


Unexpected Surprise

by cassikat



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Awesome Donna Noble, Episode Fix-It: s04e13 Journey's End, F/M, I'd tag more but it would spoil the story., Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 19:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11881530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassikat/pseuds/cassikat
Summary: It wasn't Rose the Doctor was running for, but someone he thought he'd never see again. Someone who stole his hearts centuries ago, then left him for E-space. Re-write of Stolen Earth/Journey's End.





	1. Not the Last of the Time Lords after all

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Since the only Time Lord RTD ever brought back was the Master, I can authoritatively say I don't own them. Can't even say I own the plot. Just the alterations :)
> 
> Spoilers: The Doctor's Daughter, Stolen Earth, Journey's End. Anything Classic with Romana in it.
> 
> Author's Notes: I know Classics fans will be jumping for joy, but there should be a large segment of New fans jumping too. It's all because this fic just sat there as an idea in the notes folder until it hit me: Jenny was running around all over the place, canonically, so why not make it her that found Romana? Then the story just started flowing, and I think I finished the original draft of the first four chapters in one night.
> 
> Betaed by the lovely tkelparis, who has also been occasionally nagging me to write a prequel to this story. That'll probably be a few months, though.
> 
> Not Rose-friendly, so if you think Rose is the best thing since sliced bread, go find another fic.

 

* * *

 

"Owww," Jenny groaned and bent double, desperately trying to keep from revisiting her last meal. "You didn't say it would hurt so much. Or be so nauseating."

"I did tell you time travel without any shielding from the Vortex was debilitating," Romana said after she'd controlled her own nausea. She stood, cracked her neck and back, brushed her mahogany curls away from her heart-shaped face, then helped Jenny up. "Now to find out exactly where we are. I mean, it's Great Britain, 2008, London. It's a dreadfully smelly city, but unique in its' combination of stinks and odours. But exactly when and where is a bit of a trick."

"You never did explain why we had to go back in time after I told you about Donna and Martha, though," Jenny said in puzzlement as she followed the Time Lady she'd rescued from an obsessed collector.

"It was the way you described their clothes, mannerisms, and personal technology," Romana replied patiently. Jenny would ask stupid questions but she couldn't help it, having been made as she was and then abandoned. And at least she had the intelligence to ask when she didn't understand. She had to wonder, though, what had happened to the Doctor? That was most unlike him, to just leave like that. She would have expected him to stay for the funeral at least. "Their clothes and mobiles indicated an early 21st century origin, which means he's likely spending a good bit of time in this here and now. We'll just have to put together a TARDIS detector and track him down."

"But we don't look out of place, and our clothes are from elsewhen," Jenny said, tugging on her blue t-shirt as they walked down the street and passed people. "Well not too much out of place," she added as she stared at a man with a bright green mohican who was dripping chains off his leather jacket. She walked on a few paces, taking in the sights, then realised Romana had stopped and turned about to rejoin the dark-haired elegant beauty.

Romana was stood at a newsstand, scanning the papers on offer and looking for signs of trouble. At least she had the precise date - fifth of July, 2008. "Hm. Nothing unusual."

Jenny peered at the paper, then smiled at the kind-looking old man tucked up in the stall. He smiled back, which meant he was a friendly sort... but Dad probably didn't come through here, so it'd probably be a waste of time to ask about him.

Romana smiled at the old man as well - he seemed a cheery sort, for a newspaper hawker. So she bought a paper off him, then headed down the street again. "Come along Jenny. We've places to go and things to do."

"Like find Dad," Jenny nodded, gave the nice old man a cheery wave, then followed.

Wilf sent his latest customers off with a cheery 'Have a good'un', then shook his head and checked his watch. He was going to be late back home if Brian didn't move his lazy carcass, and then Sylvia would have kittens.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later, Romana and Jenny were on a bus, following the beeps of the thing Romana had made from bits in her pocket and the Vortex Manipulator. "I still don't understand how you turned those bits and bobs and the manipulator into a Dad-finder."

"It isn't technically a Doctor-finder," Romana replied, blue eyes fixed on the screen. "It's a TARDIS predictive calculator. It would take educating you in five-dimensional temporal calculus at the very least for you to understand the details, but basically I've cobbled these bits and bobs into a device that will tell me where the TARDIS _will_ be. It's a pity that, in using the manipulator as the predictive base, I took away our ability to use it to just hop there-then, but he's going to be somewhere around here within the next few hours, according to the timelines."

The machine made a sound like a hiccup, and Jenny stared at it. "Was it supposed to do that?"

"No, no it wasn't," Romana frowned and shook it, and it hiccupped again. "We'll need to get off here." Fortunately there was a stop nearby, so they got off the bus and wandered down the street past a church.

"So," Jenny started. "Why'd it hiccup? I thought it was supposed to beep."

"Something's going incredibly wrong with this space-time location-" Romana was interrupted by a tremendous jolt that threw the two women into each other and then down to the ground. From the heap on the sidewalk they made, Romana stared at the sky, aghast at the sudden change. From sunny day to pitch black night. Only it wasn't quite pitch-black...there were other planets in the sky, and far too close for comfort. "Oh my...the planet's been stolen."

Jenny rolled off Romana, then looked up at the sky. "Oh Source, look at that. Those are other planets." Jenny looked at Romana, a bit scared. "Someone's collecting whole planets!"

Romana cringed, remembering her time as a collectible before Jenny had rescued her. They'd taken great pleasure in blowing up the place, after freeing all the other collected women and assorted beings. "Yes...but for what?" Romana murmured, once she'd gotten over the shock. "Come on, we have to find an electronics store," she said as she got to her feet and moved into a jog.

Then she smacked her head and ran back to Jenny, who was patiently waiting for her. "The shops were this way, weren't they?"

"Yup. I'd have shouted if you got much further," Jenny grinned, then lead the way. "There's even a computer shop, if I remember right."

"That is exactly what we need," Romana said, then saved her breath for running. She could dimly sense the burgeoning panic of the population, and wanted to get inside and safe before armed looters started rioting. She did, after all, have a very precious girl to look after. Even if that girl could actually look after both of them better, she was still older and felt responsible.

After noticing no one was about - not even an employee - Romana stood back as Jenny jimmied the lock with a set of tools that there would have to be words over later. Words like 'where did you get those?', and 'can you get me some?'.

"There. All in - let's get what we need and find a safe place," Jenny said, eyeing the street warily. All she had was a pistol and a stunner, and that wasn't enough to keep them safe, not with the way all her senses were screaming 'Danger!' at her. And it was the ones she didn't really know how to use, either. The Time Lord ones...well, too late for more lessons now, she'd just have to deal with being on-edge.

She was taken aback, though, when Romana picked up one of the laptops then headed for one of the doors in the back. "What are you doing? We need to find a safe place - there'll be looters any minute, plus whatever stole the planets may come along to attack the population into submission!"

"And why would anyone look in the locked back room of an empty store, so long as we stay quiet?" Romana replied with an arch look, amusement sparkling in her greenish eyes. "Besides, we're safe enough here for now, and I need to work on things."

"Fine," Jenny grumbled and unlocked the door for the sometimes annoying woman she'd rescued and was travelling with. Then she split her attention between the door and the broadcasts that played while Romana worked. Then something occurred to her. "Romana?"

"Mmm?" was the reply. Romana had most of her attention on hacking into UNIT computers so she could use Earth's detection equipment to find out what was going on. "What is it?"

"I didn't think about it until just now - how are we still breathing and not frozen?" Trusting her hearing to tell her if anyone was going to get -too- close, Jenny walked over to the other woman and peered at the screen. The broadcasts were voice-only, apparently, because the screen was filled with an image. Rather blobby, but it looked vaguely familiar all the same... "Is that a space station in the middle of the planets?"

"Atmospheric shell. Good, because we didn't all freeze and die. Bad, because that means that whoever's responsible wants the people as well as the planet." Romana looked up briefly and smiled. "Good catch. Yes, that's a space station, but Earth technology right now is too primitive to give us a really good look at it." She turned back to the screen and bit the corner of her lip. "Looks like we're going to find out who the thieves are - look, inbound ships departing the station."

"Two hundred of them," Jenny nodded, frowning at the screen. "Romana...Earth's not got good enough tech to stand up to that many attacking alien ships...has it?"

"No," Romana shook her head and sighed. "But they'll try anyway. Humans are stubborn and tenacious, and they'll do anything to defend what's theirs. Now if this lot of invaders will only be mannerly and broadcast, we can figure out who they are, and then maybe we can do something to help."

They watched the ships approach, and at fifteen hundred miles away, the aliens did indeed begin broadcasting. But oh, how Romana wished they hadn't - she felt her hearts freeze in fear, and she trembled in her seat.

Jenny frowned and rested a comforting hand on Romana's shoulder. "I'm going to guess you recognise the voices?" She didn't bother to ask hostility level - anything that shouted 'Exterminate!' like that was definitely out to kill.

"I...yes, I do recognise them," Romana managed, after a moment. "But after you told me what little the Doctor mentioned of the Time War, I had thought they were all gone." She swallowed, shook her head to focus herself, then pulled out the mangled Vortex Manipulator turned TARDIS-predictor and tried it again. "Blast," she said when all it did was hiccup forlornly. "No TARDIS, no weapons, and a Dalek army... oh Doctor, where are you?"

"You think he'd come? With Daleks around? He was awfully pacifistic when I was born... that was half his trouble in accepting me." Jenny said with a sigh, then she frowned. "We're staying put, unless you can give me a good reason for moving us right now."

"Of course he'd come, he likes Earth. Plus, the Daleks are terrified of him, for good reason," Romana said, then sighed. "The question is, what have they done to keep him away, and can he get through it? And yes, we'll stay - unless this gives me a location, there isn't any point in moving."

"Dad and Donna never stop thinking. Even when they're running, they're always thinking. Soon's they notice the planet's gone, they'll get right to it. You'll see." Despite her reassurances, Jenny was starting to fret. There was a war about to be waged, against an enemy she knew nothing about, and all she had was a pistol and a stunner.

"Tell me more about Donna," Romana asked, to distract Jenny from useless fretting, as she got back to work. There had to be some group somewhere that would have a plan. A weapon, something. Even just a low-level broadcast from someone trying to gather a group to fight back would be helpful.

"Don't really know that much that I didn't already tell you. She's got gorgeous ginger hair, and a fierce temper, but it's not an unreasonable one - she doesn't snap at any little thing. But Dad seemed to annoy her sometimes, cos when I had him speechless with logic once, she was really amused and told me to keep it up. Like it was giving her a break."

"He's always hated it when someone points out how irrational he's being at whatever given moment. But he never tries to deny logic. He just...doesn't always use it." Romana smiled at Jenny over her shoulder, then returned to her work. At least the wi-fi she was hooked into was still working.

"She's really observant too - notices stuff other people don't, which is how they found out the war I'd been created to fight in had only been seven days long. Course, at first even she didn't think I was a really real person, but I do have a mind and independent thought and so on, and me telling her that changed her mind right smart. And I know I told you she was the one who figured out a name for me." Jenny leant against a wall and thought about how little she really knew about the two people who'd been the most important in her life.

"Sounds like a good person for him to be travelling with," Romana said with a reminiscent smile.

"Yeah, but I bet their close friendship draws a lot of annoyance. I mean, barely half-hour out of the machine and I thought they were together-together, though they denied it." A series of beeps caught Jenny's attention, and for a moment she thought it was the Dad - no, TARDIS - detector, but it was coming from the computer. "What's that?"

"A broadcast, working on some sort of subwave... I think. Hang on, let me try and tune into it, clear it up." Romana worked frantically for a few minutes, and then they received a woman's voice.

"Can anyone hear me? The Subwave Network is open. You should be able to hear my voice. Is there anyone there?"

Romana worked harder at it while the woman talked, until the screen resolved into four split windows. One occupied by an older woman, one occupied by two men and a woman, and one occupied by a woman and a child. The last was empty except for static.

"Sarah Jane Smith," Romana murmured, feeling a bit of awe at finally seeing one of the companions the Doctor had talked most about during her time with him, once she was identified. "Jenny! See if you can find a working webcam in this flotsam! We need to be able to talk with these people!"

"On it!" Jenny caroled and started rummaging. A webcam she didn't know, but a camera would, by definition, have a lens. As Martha Jones joined the conversation, Jenny growled in frustration. "Why can't they be useful and have a camera in here? I'd love to say hi to Martha!"

"Probably because it's the repair portion of the shop - I tucked us back here in case we needed parts," Romana replied sensibly. "If you think it's safe, duck out front and see if you can find one on the shelving. If one's not out there, try the storage room. And hurry!"

While Jenny was on the hunt, Romana took in the names of everyone. Captain Jack Harkness - flirt, but in charge of his own group. Martha Jones, doctor. She knew about Sarah Jane... and Harriet Jones was a former Prime Minister. Who, she discovered as Jenny came back with a webcam, had apparently done something that ticked the Doctor off, as he supposedly deposed her. And what was an Osterhagen Key, that former PM Harriet Jones was so desperate to keep Martha from using? A key created by someone named Osterhagen, obviously... but a key to what? Probably nothing good from the firm way Harriet had put her foot down about it.

She grumbled as she argued with the camera - first it didn't want to connect to the computer, then when she realised she'd had the plug turned the wrong way, it had to install software. She didn't manage to get connected until they were getting ready to call the Doctor, and Ianto pointed out that if they did, then the Daleks could find them.

 

* * *

 

Everyone on the Subwave Network stared as a new screen resolved, and a voice none of them knew said. "That's a very good point, Ianto Jones. But if you wrap the broadcast in a recursive blindfold matrix resonating at 72.9 gigahertz, the Daleks literally won't be able to see it."

"Who are you?" Harriet Jones asked before any of the others could. "You're not the Doctor, but you talk like him."

"My name's Romana, and I travelled with the Doctor too, at one point in my life. Long story we haven't got time to get into now, but I wouldn't even be here without Jenny."

"Oh my God!" Martha gasped when Jenny's face popped onto the screen and grinned at them. "But you're...you were..."

"Dead?" Jenny asked over Romana's shoulder, still grinning. "Not really, just looked it. No time to explain... except for Romana explaining to whoever needs to know how to do the blindfold matrix."

 

* * *

 

Rose stared at the Noble's computer with a frown. "Who are they?" she asked. "I've never heard of either of them."

Wilf stared at the image of that lovely dark-haired lady and the sweet little blonde. "Blimey! Dunno who they are, but I saw them! Just today, at my newsstand!"

He didn't think it was a good thing to mention that Donna had told him that the Doctor had got a daughter named Jenny who'd been shot and, supposedly, died the day she was born from a machine. Or that the Jenny he'd met had said she was looking for her Dad as the two of 'em had walked away. Pity neither of them had mentioned he was the Doctor, or he'd have invited them home.

Not that them being here would've gone over well, given their current guest. Rose had that big gun and was already fussed enough that she couldn't talk to anyone on this network - no point in letting her have something else to get all worked up about. She might get fussed enough to be dangerous.

 

* * *

 

A very busy time passed, and just before the transmission began, Romana gave Harriet Jones a warning. "Now, I said they wouldn't be able to detect the broadcast...but if we go too long without being able to contact him, they will be able to detect something like ripples from all the energy in use, and they might be able to use that to home in on you by triangulating the ripples."

"They would have done that without the blindfold matrix - but my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth. Now, enough of words. Let's begin." Harriet very carefully didn't mention to Romana that all her equipment was cobbled together, and the blindfold would likely short out before too long. She didn't want to distract the helpful woman who'd worked hard to give her a chance to survive.

The transmission was initiated, and shortly there were bangs of equipment exploding, and sparks flying in the background of both Jack's window and Sarah Jane's, and Jenny bit her lip nervously. All they'd been able to do was tell them about the blindfold matrix, and if sparks started flying at Harriet's place...

"Come on, Dad," she murmured, too soft to be picked up by the webcam. "Get through before it's too late."

Romana, who'd opened a window to monitor the fluxing of the transmission, bit her lip as she noticed what she'd been afraid of. "Damn them, what did they do to keep the Doctor away? Harriet, the ripples are already starting to be at detectable levels. Torchwood, are the Daleks doing anything?"

"Not yet," Gwen replied after a glance at a monitor. "There's saucer movement, but not in any particular direction."

"Harriet, set the frequency to oscillate between 72.9 and 67.5. That should buy you a bit more time, and make the ripples more confusing so they'll have a harder time of it."

Harriet smiled, a sad proud smile. "I'm afraid I daren't, Romana. What I cobbled together to make the blindfold matrix work isn't-" she ducked a spray of sparks. "-very stable. And that was it, burning out."

"They haven't caught on quite yet," Gwen said. "Still no destination detectable."

A new screen fuzzed into being and slowly resolved into the Doctor and Donna's face. "...some sort of Subwave Network."

"Doctor!" Five voices shouted, with a sixth saying "Dad!" instead, and then Jack continued. "Where the hell have you been? Doctor, it's Daleks!"

Gwen and Ianto had a bit of byplay about the Doctor's age and appearance, then Sarah Jane said. "The Daleks are taking people away, taking them to their ships."

"It's not just Dalek Caan," Martha added, but she might as well not have bothered, because the Doctor had finally noticed Jenny.

"Jenny? You... you were... you died in my arms!" he said, tears trying to form that he blinked away. "You didn't regenerate! How?"

"Short answer, I dunno. I just woke up, and since you weren't there I stole a shuttle and left the planet. Been banging around ten years since then trying to figure out how to find you again, Dad. Didn't manage that, but I did find someone else who knows you," She grinned and pulled her head out of the screen to reveal Romana.

Everyone watching the Subwave Network saw the Doctor's face light up, from his eyes to his brilliantly happy smile. Martha even thought his hair had perked up from the joy he was radiating. "Romana," he breathed as he recognised the sense and feel of her, even though the face was new. "Oh Romana...I thought I'd never see you again."

"I didn't either, Doctor." Romana said, shining with the same joy he had. Neither of them noticed the rest of the Subwave chatroom introducing themselves to Donna. In fact, neither of them did more than stare at each other with goofy smiles until Harriet cleared her throat.

"As lovely as it is to have helped arrange the reunion, Doctor, I need to hand the Subwave Network over to Torchwood. I'm afraid the Daleks will find me very shortly."

"Oh? Well, we'll see what we can do about that," the Doctor reached for some controls, but before he could, the screen fuzzed up on him. "Ooh what's this? Another signal coming through? There's someone else out there... hello? Hello, can you hear me? Rose? Is that you?"

 

* * *

 

 

Oh, of course it couldn't be Rose, Romana thought, whoever she was. Another former companion she expected, as everyone on the Network, save for Harriet, was. Aside from their compatriots and/or family, of course.

No, it had to be Davros. The monster who created the Daleks. The monster who somehow survived past all odds to come back and create them all over again - this time from bits of himself. That raised the threat by an entire order of magnitude - Daleks were simply pure hate in a metal shell. Davros was insane enough and brilliant enough to direct that hate to be a true threat to all of existence.

While he was gloating at the Doctor, who was, uncharacteristic for him, not riposting back properly, Romana silently aided Torchwood in taking control of the Subwave Network before the Daleks could home in on Harriet Jones. Torchwood was better protected than a house, any day.

Then her TARDIS predictor beeped frantically, indicating that a future location near enough for them to run to had been detected. She made hurried farewells, then ran out of the room with Jenny hot on her heels.

"Sector seven," she said as they made as much speed as they could through the back ways and alleys that the Daleks were not paying attention to, for reasons she couldn't stop to ponder. "That's our sector, by the way. Six-six-five grid reference, means we're not far away at all. How's that for luck?"

"We're sticking to the alleys though," Jenny insisted. "Last thing we need is to get shot by a Dalek - or captured. Captured's probably worse."

"Actually shot is worse, even for a Time Lord," Romana corrected the youngling. "Time Lords can't regenerate from a full-on blast from a Dalek weapon. It's one of the many reasons my people - our people - feared and hated them so much." She smiled wanly as they cautiously crept across an open road to the next alley that would get them closer. They could probably run right down this road and get there faster. But not safer.

"Oh. Captured, there's always a chance to escape, no matter what they do." Jenny had to grab hold of Romana then, because at the sound of a peculiar grating, grinding wheeze of a noise, the woman had almost run out of the alley they were in. "Check first! With how happy he looked to see you, it'd kill him to have you shot right in front of him!"

Jenny looked out the alley, both ways, then ducked her head back in. "What's Dad's TARDIS look like?" "A blue box, says Police on it," Romana replied, nearly vibrating from feeling him so close. "Did you see it?"

"Yep." Jenny sighed as Romana pushed past her and then stopped dead a few steps away from the alley. Then she started running, so Jenny darted out to provide cover, gun drawn. She didn't care what Dad had to say about guns at this moment, this was probably the brightest spot in this catastrophe and she was bloody well going to protect them!

Okay, that was weird, she thought. Some armed blonde was running for Dad too, and she was closer. But Romana was faster, and could take care of herself. She started scanning for danger, then noticed movement. A Dalek, it had to be! Raising her pistol, she took aim at it's eyestalk and screamed. "Dad! Look out!"

 

* * *

 

"Dammit, where is she?" The Doctor asked, looking around. "I got the TARDIS as close to her as I could without drawing Dalek attention to her and Jenny... so where are they?"

"They'll be here," Donna said and laid a soothing hand on his arm. "Probably taking time for safety - it looks like a ghost town around here."

"Sarah Jane did say they were taking the people," he replied, fidgeting as he looked around the empty street. He could feel Romana, she was so close! But where was she? Distracted, he continued with the conversation. "But what for? Donna, think. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?"

"Just, the darkness is coming. I thought it was something to do with the stars going out." She shrugged, then caught sight of a blonde head she recognised, just not the one she wanted to see most for the Doctor's sake. "But look, you could always ask her yourself."

He looked up and saw Rose, who smiled when she saw him. But the feeling in his head crescendoed into a familiar song, and he saw a different, much more desired face past her. He could always talk to Rose in a minute - he needed to get to Romana!

He took off running, pushing himself to top speed without any buildup. He'd pay later, but that was later! Every second spent at less than top speed was a second without Romana in his arms! He was so focused on running to her that he barely noticed Rose running toward him.

He did notice when Jenny screamed "Dad! Look out!" though. He turned his head, saw the Dalek aiming at him, and managed to change his angle of momentum just enough so that it'd be a glancing hit, rather than dead-on. He spun from the impact anyway and landed hard on his back. Dazed from the harsh landing, made harder by all that redirected momentum, he thought he could hear Jenny scream a denial, and then the sound of gunshots. But he couldn't seem to catch his breath to have a look-round...well, no matter. The important bit, his missing half, had just skidded to a halt, dropped to her knees, and caressed his face with a gentle touch. She'd tell him what was going on.

"Oh Doctor," Romana sighed, to the backdrop of gunshots and an explosion.

 

* * *

 

Rose saw the Doctor and smiled, then her face lit up when he started running to her. So she started running too. Her grin faded away when she was passed from behind by that woman calling herself Romana and she pushed herself to try and take first place back. She was here, he was here, nothing else mattered!

Except he got shot, and that... that bint got there first! How dare she touch him like that when he was hers! It was all their fault he got shot anyway!

 

* * *

 

Jenny forced herself to not cry as she shot dead-on at the Dalek's eyestalk. One round after another as fast as that excellent pistol could fire... but nothing was getting through. Looked like she had to play Dodge the Dalek, she thought as her finger pulled the trigger but the gun clicked empty.

Then the Dalek blew up. And revealed that really cute Jack behind it, with a really good gun.

"Hi," she said, coming down from the adrenaline rush of combat. "Nice gun."

"It is, isn't it?" he grinned back at her, slung it over his shoulder then offered his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness, nice to meet you in person, Jenny."

"Likewise," she smiled and put a bit of flirt in both smile and handshake, but a glimpse of movement caught her eye. Someone was about to interrupt Romana's reunion with Dad, and she wasn't going to have it. "'Scuse me."

She caught up to Rose very easily and grabbed the gun, tugging her backward until the strap slid off her shoulder. "Give me that."

"What? Who the hell do you think you are, taking my gun?" Rose snapped, half her attention on this girl who called the Doctor 'dad', and half on the Doctor being cosied up by that Romana.

"I think I'm a lot more responsible than you to have this," Jenny snapped and checked the darkness around them for more Dalek movement. "I was stood there facing off a Dalek with a pistol, and you just acted like you didn't even have this gun! You never carry a gun for protection and not use it to protect! People die that way!"

"So? It's not a threat anymore, is it? Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get to the Doctor!" Rose started for her prone man, only to find Jenny in the way again and blocking her.

"That's not the point! The point is that you had this gun, and you could've shot the damn thing if you'd been paying attention, and then MY DAD WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SHOT!"

Jack intervened then, though more of his attention was on scanning for more Dalek threats. "Ladies, enough arguing about guns! The Doctor's been shot and we need to get him safely in the TARDIS!"

 

* * *

 

Romana anticipated a scolding from that little soldier later, but he was right there and she just couldn't wait another moment! She took off running, a huge smile on her face, and barely took note of the blonde girl that wasn't Jenny running toward the Doctor too. She was just an obstacle to her destination - an easily-dodged obstacle too.

Her hearts seized when he fell, but she'd seen it was a glancing blow so she forced herself to not collapse but kneel beside him, and reached out a trembling hand to stroke his cheek.

"Oh Doctor," she sighed out, voice hitching and not really noticing the gunshots and explosion. "We can't ever have an easy time of it, can we?"

"Romana," he breathed and leant his cheek into her hand. She was really here, and oh, though he hurt he smiled up at her. "Missed you."

A bit of a scuffle drew her attention, then the most disturbing person she'd ever sensed shouted. "Ladies, enough arguing about guns, the Doctor's been shot and we need to get him safely in the TARDIS!"

"Sterling idea, Captain," Romana agreed, and wondered why and how he'd become a fixed-point, then snapped. "Jenny, come here and help me get your father inside the TARDIS."

"Sorry," Jenny replied, still holding the big gun she'd taken from Rose. "I don't trust her as a rear-guard. But," she said as Donna came running, now that she wouldn't get shot - very smart of her, Jenny thought. "Here's Donna, she can help."

And she hip-checked Rose, who was complaining that she should be the one helping her dad. Stupid twit had already done enough damage, letting her dad get shot.

 

* * *

 

At the TARDIS, Donna shook her head and was glad she didn't get involved in that to-do. "Blimey," she muttered as Jenny and Rose looked like they were starting to get into it. "It's like a soap with guns out there."She took off running though, the moment it was safe, and helped Romana get the Doctor inside the TARDIS.

Once they were all back inside and the door shut, Donna fretted. "What do we do? There's some medicine or something, isn't there?"

"Just step back," Jack sighed, and wondered why this companion didn't know about regeneration. He didn't have time to worry about it because he had to catch Rose and keep her back. "Rose, do as I say and get back. He's dying, and you know what happens next."

"What do you mean?" Donna cried out as Jenny joined her. "He can't!"

"No, oh no," Rose gulped. "I came all this way - you can't!" She struggled against Jack's hold as that horrible Romana finally left the Doctor's side.

Donna noticed, absently, that Romana had joined her and Jenny, and turned to her cos she was never going to get any answers out of a man with an armful of blonde. Never. "What does he mean, what happens next?"

"Trust the Doctor not to explain something important like regeneration to a companion," Romana sighed, then gave Donna the short explanation. "Time Lords, when we have a fatal injury, we regenerate. We're...reborn."

"Wot?" Donna asked as the Doctor's hand started to glow. "Like a phoenix?"

"Well yes, that's a very good analogy," Romana nodded, though her eyes were on the Doctor. "Only, every cell becomes completely new. Right down to the looks. In my last body, for example, I was as blonde as Jenny."

The Doctor gave a wan smile to Romana - trust her to manage to take a burden from his shoulders. "It's starting."

"But you can't!" Rose cried her denials out again as Jack pulled her against him. "I came all this way to get back to you...you can't!"

Jenny stared at Rose in disgust from where she was stood by Donna. "You can't honestly mean you'd rather he die than change! What kind of idiot are you?!"

"Here we go," Jack said and tucked Rose's head against his chest. "Good luck Doctor."

Jenny rolled her eyes as the really handsome Jack tended the idiot, then tucked a comforting arm around Donna. "It'll be all right, Donna. According to Romana, he'll still be Dad. He'll just have a different face and body."

"Oh, well that's all right then," Donna sniffed back tears and turned away from the brightening light she could blame them on. "Maybe he'll have some meat on those skinny bones this time." She tried to make a joke of it, but her voice broke at the end.

Romana and Jenny both heard the pain in her voice, and Romana draped her arm around the ginger the Doctor travelled with. And since they'd been paying attention to Donna, and not Rose, they missed the Doctor's warning and were taken by surprise by his regenerating.


	2. Daleks vs Time Lords

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Extra Time Lords do change things a bit, but currently not too differently from the episode. It'll get better, I promise. :) 
> 
> Beta-love to tkelparis! And love to my reviewers and readers - hope you don't hate the cliffhangers!

 

* * *

 

There were a lot of things running through the Doctor's mind at very high speed when he regenerated. Romana, how horribly he dealt with post-regeneration sickness, how very glad he was to see Jenny alive and well, Romana, that Dalek army, how glad he was that Donna was getting along with Romana, Davros, Romana, ...how did Rose get back?, and of course Romana.

So when he felt all the damage to himself was healed, he wrenched control of the process and poured the rest of the regeneration energy into his spare hand. Other than serving as a Time Lord detector - and why hadn't it picked up Romana, anyway? - it was also a matching bioreceptacle he could dump it all safely in. Process over, he looked up and grinned at everyone. "Now then, where were we?"

As they - even Romana - were all staring at him, he walked over to his glowing spare hand. It shouldn't be doing that. "There now," he said softly, then blew on it. The glowing stopped, and he smiled. "That's better."

Then he turned to face his stunned companions again. "You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me." He shot a cheeky grin at Romana, then almost laughed when she rolled her eyes over the huge smile on her face.

"So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy matching bioreceptacle, namely my hand. My hand there." He raised an eyebrow at Rose, since she was the only one who'd remember this part. "My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax? Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?"

"You're still you?" Rose asked, drying tears that had streaked her mascara a bit. "I'm still me," he nodded. He would have added something along the lines of 'I'm always me', but she leapt forward and hugged him, so there wasn't really anything he could do but hug her back, right?

Fortunately she let go when he did, and he turned to Romana, waiting for her to say something.

Romana walked forward, that smile still on her face and shook her head. "Doctor, you're impossible!" Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

He kissed her back and completely lost track of time, though he knew neither of them had used their respiratory bypass so it probably wasn't very long in actual time. Felt like a beautiful slice of forever, though.

When the kiss was over, he didn't let her go, but he did say, with a soft, goofy grin as he reached up to touch her mahogany hair. "Nah, just a bit unlikely." He loved how she fit into his arms, just the right height so that neither of them had to strain. About Donna's height, actually, and nearly her shape...that was weird. And he was far too busy getting used to Romana's new body to pay any attention to Rose's indignant squawks about their kissing.

Then the power went out, leaving them in emergency lighting. "Power's gone," Romana sighed. "They've got us. Probably used a chronon loop or something similar."

"Temporal prison," the Doctor corrected, bleakly, and let her go with a sigh. "Used it a lot, later days in the War, whenever they could latch onto a TARDIS." Then they both grabbed onto the console as the TARDIS jerked, then lifted.

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination." Jack said, eyebrow raised. Looked like he wouldn't be flirting with Romana...and that explained why he could still flirt with Rose. But why hadn't he wanted to flirt with or hug Donna? That had been bugging him since Jenny talked him into it by threatening to break a rib in their hug during the hug-a-thon. It couldn't be her body - Donna gave fantastic hugs, once he'd actually hugged her. So why hadn't he wanted to?

"It's not a ship. The Crucible is a super space-station, in simplest terms." Romana ran a hand through her hair and tried to figure out what they were doing with it in the Medusa Cascade. There was a monster of a rift here, but it had been sealed long before she was Loomed...

"Wasn't ever the best thing, to see the Crucible," the Doctor added, a bit bleakly, then turned to Rose. "Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe, you've seen the future. What was it?"

Rose shook her head. "It's the darkness."

"The stars were going out." Donna added, remembering that from the parallel world she'd been in so recently. And wondered if Rose would have anything new to add, cos they'd already covered this...oh wait, maybe Romana and Jenny and Jack needed to hear it.

''One by one." Rose agreed with a nod. "We looked up at the sky and they were just dying." She quirked a smile at the Doctor. "Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this, this er, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could-"

"Could what?" The Doctor asked, then frowned. "And didn't I tell you that it was too dangerous to even attempt to cross back over, much less use a dimension cannon? You could have shattered the walls of the universes and destroyed them! Including this one!"

"So I could come back." She rolled her eyes at him, and in a fit of pique because he wasn't acting at all happy to see her, added, "Shut up. Anyway, suddenly it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything."

While the Doctor sputtered about the cannon probably causing the collapse, and Romana tried to calm him, Donna tilted her head at Rose. "In that parallel world, you said something about me."

"The dimension cannon could measure timelines," Rose nodded. "And it's, it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you."

"But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick." Donna huffed in exasperation, feeling like she'd asked that question a hundred times before without ever getting an answer. And she wouldn't get one now, looked like, cos the scanner, one of the few bits in the TARDIS that was still working, beeped.

"The Dalek Crucible. All aboard." The Doctor said, then glanced at Romana with fear gnawing at his gut. He'd just found her - it wasn't fair!

"The TARDIS is secured," the voices of Daleks were filtering in. "Doctor, you will step forth or die."

He sighed and silently cursed the universe, getting a raised eyebrow from Romana - apparently he'd broadcast that - and then he said. "We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in."

"You told me nothing could get through those doors," Rose said, confused.

"And you've got extrapolator shielding," Jack added. They'd fought Daleks before and they couldn't get through to the TARDIS. So why could they now?

"Oh Jack," The Doctor said with a sad smile. "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its' power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood."

Jenny noticed Donna looking vague over by the console and peered at her. "You all right, Donna?"

Donna blinked and shook her head, and the heartbeat she'd been listening to faded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right. Just thinking how unfair this is for you."

"Is, a bit. But I was born in a crisis, the middle of a war actually. So, it figures I'd find my dad in the middle of another crisis," Jenny replied with a smile, then joined her dad, Romana and the rest of the group, in time to hear that they had no other way out. Pity - Jack had a Vortex manipulator, and they could've done lots with it if not for the chronon loop. Temporal prison. Whatever.

"Right then, all of us together." The Doctor frowned, because Donna was still stood by the console, staring into space. "Donna?"

She startled at the sound of his voice - she'd been hearing that heartbeat again, and she was trying to figure it out. Was it the TARDIS? Still, she gave the Doctor a wan smile. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do." And oh, how he wished there was. Not just because he'd have more time with Romana and Jenny - and oh, he hadn't properly hugged his little girl yet! - it also wasn't fair to Donna, to have her magnificence cut short like this. Jack would survive anything, and he was ambivalent about Rose right now because of that cannon. But oh, Donna...

"No, I know." Donna said and walked a bit closer. She didn't want to get into the potential squabble, with Romana by one of his arms, and Rose by the other, but oh, she could use a Doctor-hug right now. "Like Pompeii."

"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters," came the Dalek voice, with another adding "Crucible on maximum alert."

"If only it was that easy," the Doctor gave her a sad, proud smile.

"Daleks," Rose said, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Oh, God," Jack said, smiling bravely for everyone else even though his guts were churning and he'd really rather crawl under a bed.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it?" The Doctor said with an attempt at a smile, and his arm tight around Romana. "All of us. All of it. Everything we did." He looked at Rose and Jack, stood together now. "You two were brilliant." He turned to Donna, who was still at the back of the group. "And you were brilliant." His eyes got briefly shiny as he opened his other arm to Jenny, who rushed forward and hugged him. "You were one of the best things that ever happened to me. Love you, Jenny." He kissed the top of her head, to her muffled 'Love you, Dad', then turned those shiny eyes on Romana, who raised a hand to his lips.

"No need for words between us, Doctor. But yes, I do too." She forced her own tears back, and raised her chin in a manner that harked back to her regal first body. "Well, let's be on with it. We've kept our hosts waiting long enough."

"Yeah," he turned to Jack and nodded to give him permission to open the doors.

Outside the TARDIS, there were Daleks flying in phalanxes, plus the ones surrounding them and chanting "Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!"

The Doctor kept his tight hold on Romana and Jenny as the Red-coloured Dalek rolled forward a little. "Behold, Doctor. Behold the might of the true Dalek race."

The Doctor did a fast head-count, then let go his daughter and the woman he loved to try and find his missing ginger. Who was, oddly, still stood inside the TARDIS. "Donna, it's no safer in there. Come out."

Instead of Donna coming out, the TARDIS doors shut in her face, leaving the Doctor stunned. "What?!"

"Doctor, what have you done!" Donna shouted, trying the doors.

"I didn't do anything!" he shouted back, unable to go try and open the doors with all the Daleks around, just itching to shoot him.

"Oi!" Donna shouted, banging on the doors now. "I'm not staying behind! Let me out!"

The Doctor spun round to face the Red Dalek again. "What did you do?"

Jenny idly wondered if the Dalek would look as puzzled as the rest of them were if it had a proper face and set of emotions. It sounded as puzzled as a Dalek could probably get though, when it said. "This is not of Dalek origin."

Over the sound of Donna shouting for him, and ignoring the wrench in his hearts because he couldn't properly help her, he snapped. "Stop it! She's my friend! Now open the door and let her out!"

"This is Time Lord treachery." The Red Dalek whirred backwards, away from the Doctor. Just to be safe.

"Me? The door just closed on its own!" He took a step forward, and stopped when a lot of Daleks raised their guns to aim at him.

"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed." The Red Dalek sent a signal, and a trapdoor opened under the TARDIS, sending her plummeting.

"What are you doing? Bring them back!" He shouted, and would have stomped toward the Dalek despite all the ones ready to shoot him if Romana hadn't grabbed his arm and held him still.

_Doctor, that was the TARDIS closing her own doors, for some reason we don't understand. You've told me how many times she's alive? And now she's properly proved it, so we have to trust that she has a plan._

_Romana, she's my best friend! They're my best friends! I can't just stand here and let them get killed!_ He was all jumbled up emotionally, but he used that to fuel shouting at the Daleks. "What have you done? Where's it going?"

"The Crucible has a heart of Z-neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."

That was a definite gloat from that Red Dalek, Jenny thought as she took her dad's free hand. Looked like Daleks weren't just hate, they were full of gloaty-ness too. Or whatever the emotion that made bad guys gloat was called...smugness?

"You can't! You've taken the defences down - she'll be torn apart!" Held by two Time Ladies, he couldn't even struggle free now. All he could do - all any of them could do, he thought as he listened to Jack and Rose try to get them to let Donna out - was beg. And that was probably worthless. But he never gave up. Mostly.

"The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe. The last children of Gallifrey are powerless."

Jenny curled her lip and wished she had that nice big gun of Rose's still. It'd put a lovely hole in at least some of the Daleks, and they deserved it for making them watch the TARDIS in the core of the Crucible. The ship was bobbing though, and wasn't that core supposed to be Zed-Neutrino energy? Shouldn't the TARDIS have sunk into it? Or was that much energy in that small a space actually more like a liquid than just energy, and the TARDIS had a few more precious seconds to exist?

 _Clever girl_ , Romana thought back. _But you're broadcasting again._

 _Sorry_ , Jenny replied, and found the train-of-thought-leak and blocked it off. They'd been working on that, off and on, since Jenny had rescued Romana.

"Please. I'm begging you. I'll do anything! Put me in her place. You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!" And at this point, he didn't quite know which life he was begging for. Didn't matter really - if watching him humiliate himself saved the TARDIS, it would also save Donna.

"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die."

 

* * *

 

Inside the TARDIS, Donna screamed as the ship was sent plummeting, then was jolted off her feet by the landing. Didn't seem to be moving much now, but oh my God! What situation were they in now? The TARDIS was catching fire, and the roundels in the walls were exploding!

She crawled over to the console, coughing and panicking, trying to remember her flying lessons from the Doctor, when suddenly she heard that heartbeat again. Only this time, she finally figured out where it was coming from. His creepy hand in a jar...but if that was where it was coming from, then why'd she been hearing it outside the TARDIS too?

Dazed and confused from smoke inhalation, she touched the jar and gasped as golden energy flowed out, wrapped around her, then surged back into the jar. It shattered and Donna yipped and scrambled back a bit, staring at the twitching hand laying on the grating. And she kept staring as the golden energy surged out of the hand and formed a body. Exactly identical to the Doctor according to the face, she absently thought behind her jaw-dropped look of surprise. Guess he's not such a skinny boy after all. That suit of his must be made of special material, cos it's been hiding a lot.

He sat up, which kicked at least her mouth into gear, and she made what was probably the most obvious of all her obvious comments. "It's you!"

"Oh yes!" he grinned at her.

"You're naked," she almost sing-songed back, trying to keep her eyes on his face to preserve any modesty he might have left. And yet another obvious comment from the best temp in Chiswick.

"Oh yes!" Still grinning, he winked and waggled his eyebrows at her before he leapt off the floor to press a button.

Did he just wink and waggle his eyebrows at me? Donna wondered, stunned by the thought, but managed to scramble off the floor when the TARDIS rematerialised somewhere a lot safer.

 

* * *

 

"Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The TARDIS vanished, and Jenny's hearts sank as her dad's face went utterly blank. She didn't know he was having a conversation with Romana behind that mask, so she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

_Did you feel that? Doctor, did you feel it?_

_Another Time Lord, just before the TARDIS vanished. But...how?_

_Donna must have touched your hand, sparked off a metacrisis.Oh, that's going to be trouble._

_Well yeah, two of me and you always say one of me is trouble enough...but he's our last chance too._ He reluctantly turned most of his attention to the outside again when the Red Dalek spoke.

"The TARDIS has been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor. What do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"

Keeping that one feeble hope hidden, the Doctor replied. "...yeah."

They needed to believe he was helpless, so he'd give it to them cos right this moment he was. But, as he'd been reminded by feeling a new Time Lord come into existence, where there was life, there was hope. And help was out there, somewhere.

"Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?"

"Yeah? Feel this!" Jack pulled out a revolver from his coat and shot at the Red Dalek. He didn't expect the bullets to do anything, but he had a plan. And that plan required everyone not in the know about him to think he was dead. Which was neatly handled by the Red Dalek exterminating him.

"Jack!" Rose cried out for the first time since she'd tried to help keep the Daleks from killing Donna. "Oh my God! Oh, no."

Jenny squeaked when Jack was shot. Oh, she could feel he was weird, but he was gorgeous and looked like he could be a lot of fun no matter how it was quantified. And now he was dead. And now she was starting to really hate the Daleks.

"Rose, come here. Leave him." He wished they'd told Rose about Jack, for a picosecond...but then changed his mind. She had a terrible poker face, and would spill the secret and ruin whatever Jack's plan was.

Rose stared at the Doctor in shock. That was Jack! And he was...and the Doctor was just stood there surrounded by those other Time Lords! "They killed him!"

"I know. I'm sorry." While he waited for Rose to join them, he squeezed Jenny and Romana's hands. _Brace yourselves, it's gonna feel really weird in a moment._

 _Dad? What do you mean?_ Jenny thought at him as the Red Dalek ordered them to be taken to somewhere called the Vault

"There's nothing we can do," he said to Rose as she joined the three Time Lords.

 _That's what I mean_ , he replied, and hid a wince at Jenny's lip-twitch when Jack came back to life. She was good at controlling her face, though, and the Daleks probably would think it was because they'd said their little group were Davros' toys now.

 _That was NOT 'weird', Doctor. That was disturbing, and more than a bit disgusting,_ Romana sent as they were herded away. _But good for us...if he can keep playing dead._

 _Oh, that felt weirder than being in a puddle of Qtazian slime during a thunderstorm,_ Jenny groused, and absently brushed at her bare forearms to see if her hair was standing on end. She still thought Jack was someone she wanted to get to know better. Because to her, him coming back wasn't disgusting, just a really big shock. Just like standing in conductive slime in a thunderstorm.

 

* * *

 

Once they'd gotten to safety, the new Doctor had gotten dressed in one of the Doctor's blue suits and repaired the TARDIS. He lovingly polished one last roundel and turned to Donna. "All repaired. Lovely. Shush. No one knows we're here. Got to keep quiet. Silent running, like on submarines when you can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner! I like blue. What do you think?"

Donna stared at him in disbelief. More babble than the Doctor spat out, and it made less sense...what had really happened here? "You are bonkers!"

"Why? What's wrong with blue?" He asked, confused. Didn't she like blue? He remembered she complained that he never changed...well he had, and she still wasn't happy?

"Is that what Time Lords do? Lop a bit off, grow another one? You're like worms." She made a bit of a face, cos she was trying not to think about any part of the Doctor being like a worm, and now to find out that he might be like a bipedal one? Eww!

Oh! That was what was bothering her! With a relieved smile, he answered her. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm unique. Never been another like me. Because all that regeneration energy went into the hand." He waggled the fingers of his right hand at her. "Look at my hand. I love that hand! But then you touched it. Wham!" He twitched at the noise he made, and said. "Shush. Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you. Still, could be worse." It could've been Rose, he thought.

"Oi, watch it, Spaceman!" Donna spat out, suddenly offended. It wasn't really so bad that it'd been her who touched the hand and...grown him? Was it?

"Oi, watch it, Earth girl! Ooo. I sound like you. I sound all, all sort of...rough." He made a bit of a face, disturbed at the idea. He wanted to sound like himself, thanks!

"Oi!" Now she was REALLY offended! Yeah, she didn't come from the best background and hadn't really made anything of herself, but try a posh bit of totty in her place and see how much running one of them could do!

"Oi!" He was confused all over again. Was this some sort of level of human communication he didn't know? Well, something would happen soon to get them back on track, he knew it would.

"Oi!" Oh God, now they were shouting senselessly at each other. Donna wondered which one of them had hit their head for this to be happening? Probably her, she thought. This was a bit too bonkers even for the Doctor, so it had to be an hallucination of hers.

"Spanners. Shush. I must have picked up a bit of your voice, that's all." Then the lack of something struck him and he clutched at his chest, shocked and horrified. "Is it? Did I? No. Oh, you are kidding me! No way! One heart. I've only got one heart! This body has got only one heart!"

"What, like you're human?" Oh good, something sensible. Well, sensible given the Doctor's level of sense. Wasn't that easy all the time - too much technobabble, not enough understandable stuff.

"Oh, that's disgusting." He wrinkled his nose and thumped his chest, just to check and see if a second heart was just hiding and would start beating with stimulus. Nope, wasn't going to happen.

"Oi!" Donna shouted, offended on behalf of the entire human race this time. What was so bad about only having one heart?!

"Oi!" This time he knew why he was shouting back - she'd interrupted him!

"Stop it!" She glared at him, hands on hips. He didn't want to sound like her, he could bloody well stop imitating her!

"No, wait. I'm part Time Lord, part human. Well, isn't that wizard?" He didn't know how to deal with that - he really was a brand new, unique thing in the universe, wasn't he? Well, there was Andred and Leela's child, but he'd never heard what had happened to it, just that they'd had one. Didn't even know the sex of it...

To try and get them away from more imitative shouting, Donna asked about something that was puzzling her. "I kept hearing that noise, that heartbeat, all day. And in the end, it was coming from the jar." "Oh, that was me. My single heart." He grinned at her, glad she'd lost the anger. "Because I'm a complicated event in time and space. Must have rippled back, converging on you."

"But why me?" God, was she _ever_ going to get an answer to why all this stuff was happening around her?

"Because you're special." He said it simply, matter of fact. Because it was a fact. Donna Noble was more special than most of his former companions. Have to put lots of them together just to come close to Sarah Jane, much less Donna. In fact, he realised with a lot of puzzlement, Donna was almost as special as Romana...that was weird.

"Oh, I keep telling you, I'm not." She wanted to be, though. Wanted to believe him...but if she was really so special, so awesome, why hadn't she been able to do anything with her life? Even travelling with the Doctor was sort of drifting through life - it's just she got to do and learn stuff while she drifted.

"No, but you are." A whole lot of confusing bits about Donna suddenly came together in a solution, and he couldn't help but babble it out. "Oh. You really don't believe that, do you? I can see, Donna, what you're thinking. All that attitude, all that lip, because all this time you think you're not worth it."

"Stop it." Donna's face crumpled as he pulled out all her hurts, everything that weighted her down. For cats' sake, he was going to start nagging like her mother next!

"Shouting at the world because no one's listening. Well, why should they? You never believe in yourself." He was trying to encourage her to look past all the nonsense to see what an amazing person she really was. But his heart sank a bit when he saw tears in her eyes instead.

"Doctor?" Donna swallowed against the lump in her throat and tried to stop crying. "Stop it." Why, if he thought she was so special, was he slapping her down like that?

"Oh, but look at what you did. You, me, this is SO special! No, wait, it's more than that," he added as all the coincidences of their life suddenly came together and distracted him from trying to make her believe the truth.

"It's like we were always heading for this. You came to the TARDIS by huon particles, remember? And you found me again - no one else has ever managed that, it was always me coming back for them. Your granddad, met him on Christmas. Your car. Donna, your car! You parked your car right where the TARDIS was going to land! That's not coincidence at all! We've been blind, Donna. Something's been drawing us together for such a long time." He was awestruck at how beautifully complex the manipulations were, just to get Donna together with the Doctor.

"But you're talking like destiny." Donna managed, swiping at her cheeks but distracted from her pain by the shining light in his eyes he always got when something came together and he could babble about it. She loved it when he looked like that, all thrilled and so happy. "There's no such thing. Is there?"

"You said it yourself, that night. 'That is like destiny!' And then you rushed past my hug for the boot of your car to get all your luggage." He gave her a fond smile, then sighed in frustration. "It's still not finished, though. It's like the pattern's not complete. The strands are still drawing together...but heading for what?"

"Doctor," Donna said, not believing he wasn't looking at the obvious. But then, he was the biggest outer-space dunce in the universe sometimes. "Dalek army. Twenty-seven stolen planets...maybe this situation's so bad that whatever's pulling the strings thought there had to be two of you to fix it?"

"And you say you're not brilliant! This is exactly why I'll always need you!" He beamed at her for, once more, helping him to see the obvious things - and he was a pretty obvious thing, wasn't he? - then pulled her into a hug and kissed her. Then he ran off shouting about something technobabbly before she could slap him.

Donna stood there in shock and touched her fingers to her lips. Did he just kiss her? Barmy Spaceman just kissed her for being obvious - she _had_ to have hit her head and now she was having some sort of weird dream...right? But just in case it wasn't, she hauled off down the hall after him. If all this madness wasn't a dream, he was getting such a slap!

 

* * *

 

Back on the Crucible, in the Vault, the Doctor had been separated from Romana and Jenny, and all of them were pent in holding cells.

Rose touched the wall, trying to get to him, then yipped as it zapped her hand.

"Excellent," Davros gloated. "Even when powerless, Time Lords are best kept restrained. And yes, I know those two are Time Lords as well."

Trapped in a force-field, the Doctor decided to use the one thing he always had - his gob. "Still scared of me, then?"

"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long." Davros wheeled his chair around to face his greatest foe.

"No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah?" The Doctor started to grin, even though he was locked up. "As in dungeon, cellar, prison."

"Place to keep useless, albeit valuable, objects locked away, safe from interference. Or interfering," Romana added with a touch of cheek.

After a fond smile at Romana, he continued. "You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?"

"We have an arrangement." Davros said, lifting his chin.

"No, no, no, no, no. No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!" He grinned and shook his head. Davros had been in this situation before...and just like before, he was completely ignoring it out of pride.

"So very full of fire, is he not?" Davros asked Rose, wheeling about to face her. "And to think, you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again."

"Leave her alone," the Doctor snapped. He was irritated at Rose, but he wasn't about to let Davros snipe at her without stopping it. He'd do the same for any of his companions.

"She is mine, to do as I please. You all are." Davros swivelled his support unit to take in all his captives.

"Then why am I still alive?" Rose asked, trying to get Davros to talk. The Doctor was mad at her right now, for some silly reason or other, but she'd show him she was still the best and he'd get over it.

"It's cos he wants to have an audience to gloat at," Jenny rolled her eyes. "So go on, gloat. Tell us why we're here."

"Because you must be here," Davros said, focusing in on Jenny. "It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan."

From his corner, in his chains, Dalek Caan burbled. "So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames."

"What is that thing?" Rose wrinkled her nose, not noticing anything but how disgusting it looked.

"You've met before." The Doctor replied, hiding his exasperation. Didn't she think anything was important to remember except for him? "The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."

"Caan did more than that," Davros said with pride in one of his greatest creations. "He saw time. Its' infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. All of you."

"This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind," Caan said in a mad little sing-song voice. "The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his Lady, his daughter, and his precious Children of Time. And one of them will die." He trailed off into mad laughter, tentacles waving.

"Was it you, Caan?" The Doctor's hold on his temper snapped, and he ignored Romana's soothing thought to growl out. "Did you kill Donna? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!"

Davros chuckled. "Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companions. Show your daughter. Show them your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too."

"I have seen," Caan burbled, tentacles weaving together, knotting and unknotting. "At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed."

The Doctor frowned, puzzled, and wished he could hold Romana's hand. "What does that mean?"

"We will discover it together," Davros said and wheeled off a bit. "Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins."

"Testing of what?" Jenny asked, and hoped Davros would answer even though his whole gloat was aimed at taunting Dad and not the rest of them.

"The Reality bomb." Davros smirked and folded his flesh hand across the controls of his support system. A screen lit up, showing a holding area full of humans. "Behold, the apotheosis of my genius."

They stood and watched, while other Daleks counted down and activated a planetary alignment field, and Jenny swallowed a hard lump in her throat as she noticed how aghast her dad and Romana were.

"That's Z-neutrino energy, flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string." The Doctor whispered, horrified, then shouted in a panic. "No, Davros. Davros, you can't! You can't! No!"

"Monster," Romana glared, and hid a wince as the Doctor got zapped when he pounded at the force-field trying to get out and stop Davros. Then she brushed a thought against Jenny's mind. _Are you all right?_

 _No. All those innocent people..._ Jenny trailed off, then glanced at Romana, fear in her eyes and her mental voice. _And we can't do anything to stop them from doing that to the whole universe._

 

* * *

 

After a slap and a good hearty shout for the surprise kiss, to which the Doctor had raised an eyebrow then smirked and reminded her of the Detox, they'd returned to the Control Room where Donna sat on the jumpseat and watched him putter.

The screen showed the planets start to glow, and that caught her attention. "Doctor, something's happening."

He came over and peered at the screen, then took out his brainy specs and had another look. "Single string Z-neutrinos compressed. No way."

Donna slid off the seat, then put a hand on his shoulder as they watched the energy flow to the Crucible. Neither one said a word until the planets stopped glowing, then Donna asked. "What was it, Doctor, what did they do?"

"The twenty-seven planets," he said, still in shock. "The Daleks are using them as a combination engine and transmitter...flattening Z-neutrino energy into a single string wavelength capable of dissolving the electric bonds that hold everything together, right down to atoms."

He looked up at Donna, realised she was confused, and simplified it. "It's a Reality Bomb, and if it goes off for real, not just a test, everything in the Universe - every Universe - is just going to dissolve to nothing. Not even atoms left."

"Oh my God," she gasped, horrified, and covered her mouth with her free hand. "What can we do? What can we do against something like that?"

 


	3. Time Lords vs Daleks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Um, no, don't own them or there would have been a lot more than just the Master coming back to annoy and/or thrill the Doctor.
> 
> AN: Just wanted to say that in this fic, the way Rose is portrayed, when not in an actual canon event, is extrapolated from canon events. And if you think she wasn't self-centred and jealous...then pray tell why did she, in canon, say 'But I was here first' in Stolen Earth? I have other instances of canonical immaturity, jealousy and possessiveness...heck, I have a whole screed regarding Rose's lack of maturity, however, author's notes aren't the place for it. I'll see about putting it up somewhere that doesn't make my profile page a multipage monstrosity if there's enough interest.
> 
> In short: I'm not bashing Rose in this fic, I'm just not using *ahem* Rose-tinted glasses to look at her through.
> 
> Beta-love to tkelparis, and authorial love to all my reviewers and readers!

 

* * *

 

In the Vault, after the prisoners had been dissolved into nothing, Rose was still having trouble grasping the situation. "Doctor, what happened?"

Davros was still in a gloating mood and wheeled about to face her. "Electrical energy, Miss Tyler. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter."

The reality of the situation finally sank in, and Rose looked horrified. "The stars are going out." Then she looked to the Doctor - surely he'd have some way to fix this. That's what he did!

The Doctor wasn't looking at Rose - he was glaring at Davros. "The twenty seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength-"

Davros interrupted, nodding. "Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

"And what then?" Romana asked. "What happens after there's nothing left but the Crucible and the Daleks?"

"It'll all fall apart," Jenny snorted before Davros could even think about speaking his vision of a void full of Daleks. "I've seen this before - mad dictators who think that, when they've destroyed their enemies, that everything will just fall into their grand and glorious vision."

She shook her head then, almost feeling sorry for spoiling Davros' vision. Almost. "But everything that's alive and has a mind...he thinks...starts getting the idea that he'd be better than the boss. It's already started happening, Davros. Your Supreme Dalek keeps you locked up away down here and doesn't pay you, his creator, more than lip service."

She sighed then and looked at Davros solemnly, pleading with him. "Eventually a group of Daleks will try and take command from him - or you'll try and take command back - and then there will be war across an empty void. The few resources from the Crucible and the fleet will get used up...and then everything will be dead. Your children, your greatest creation...they'll destroy themselves trying to rule over nothing."

"No!" Davros snarled, then activated another control on his support-chair and showed them another capability of their prison - snakelike coils of electricity wrapped around Jenny and she screamed and fell to her knees, convulsing in the combined agony of the electric torture and the pain of slamming into the wall of her cell.

"Davros! Stop it! Stop this now!" The Doctor shouted, but having learnt his lesson last time, didn't pound on the wall of his holding cell. But oh, he wanted to.

"Jenny!" Romana cried out, hand to her mouth. Stubborn girl shouldn't have pushed Davros so far...but oh, she was her father's daughter - that was almost something he would say.

"My Daleks will never do that," he said, and wheeled his support chair away as the energy stopped crackling, leaving Jenny panting on the floor of her tiny cell.

_Don't, Jenny, please don't_ , the Doctor cautioned as he saw her open her mouth again. _I can't take seeing you suffering like that. Not again._

_Jenny, are you all right?_ Romana asked, simultaneously soothing the distressing tangle that was the Doctor's raging emotions.

Jenny shut her mouth, then, after a minute, pushed herself to her unsteady feet. _Ow, that hurt. I should've known he'd lose his temper like that, though. Like I said earlier, Dad...seen stuff like this before. Just not on this scale...and I had a way to get out and stop them then. And I will be all right, Romana...if we live long enough._

_No despair, Jenny. You might not have sensed it, but there's another me out there. He'll have seen what happened, and he'll think of some way out. Or at least a way to get us free so we can all work together to stop this._

_Quite. You're very inventive, Doctor. The other you will be just as much so._ Romana said with a small smile, though she was hiding the sinking feeling that even two Doctors wouldn't be enough. Not in this situation.

 

* * *

 

In the TARDIS, Donna watched the Doctor working on a gizmo. Doodad, something - he'd started it about two minutes after she'd asked what they could do. But now she was curious and couldn't help asking. "So what is this thing?"

He glanced up at her, solemnly. "It's our only hope. A Z-neutrino biological inversion catalyser."

"Yeah. Earth girl, remember?" She snorted and rolled her eyes. One of these days, if she lived long enough, she'd get him to remember she didn't know all that technological mumbo-jumbo.

"Davros said he built those Daleks out of himself. His genetic code runs through the entire race." He sighed, then continued. "If I can use this to lock the Crucible's transmission onto Davros himself..."

"It'll destroy the Daleks?" Donna asked, eyes hopeful for the first time since he'd explained about the Reality Bomb.

He nodded. "Biggest backfire in history." And here he was, being shoved toward the role of destroyer again. But was that just cruel Fate, or was it whoever was pulling the strings of the timelines?

She sighed and rubbed his shoulder - she'd seen the conflict in his eyes. So, just like every other time he was at a temporary loss, she asked. "What can I do to help?"

"Hand me stuff so I can get this done faster?" He gave her a tiny smile and laid his head against her hand a moment, then gestured her to join him on the floor.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." She nodded, ruffled his hair once he'd moved his head, then sat across from him. "Just remember - Earth girl here. I don't know the names of all these whatsits."

"You will do eventually," he grinned. "Hand me the catalytic conversion matrix - the octahedron that's got a green glow to it." She rolled her eyes but found it and handed it over. This was one way to get him to identify thingamabobs, anyway.

 

* * *

 

Inside the Vault, the screen lit up again. No prisoners this time - no, it was Martha in a very empty-looking room, sitting at a console. "This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?"

Romana felt her stomach roil. Oh no. No, she couldn't be...not after she was ordered not to! Whatever that Osterhagen key was a key to, she was preparing to use it!

"Put me through!" The Doctor snapped. What was Martha up to?

Davros chuckled. "It begins, as Dalek Caan foretold."

"The Children of Time will gather, and one of them will die," the mad little Dalek burbled, tentacles slapping together almost like applause at a clever trick.

"Stop saying that!" He spared a glare for Caan, then turned it to Davros. "Put me through!"

After a moment, on the screen Martha said, with a pained look. "Doctor! I'm sorry, I had to."

Davros interposed himself between the Doctor and the screen. "The Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent."

Martha firmed her chin and glared at the monster. "I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone, or I'll use it."

"Martha, no! Whatever it is, you can't use it!" Romana snapped, afraid that it was going to be something very destructive.

"There's a chain of twenty five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust," Martha took a deep breath, shaken by the enormity of what she had started, but determined to carry it out if she had to. "If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."

"What?!" The Doctor simply could not believe what he was hearing. "Who invented that? Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose...but Martha, are you insane?!"

"The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option." Martha said with sympathy for what the Doctor must be going through, but still with the utter determination of the desperate. It was her planet at stake after all.

"That's never an option!" Romana snapped, aghast that she could even think of using something so monstrous.

"Don't argue with me, either of you! Because it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty six?" Martha shifted her gaze to Davros. "What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

"She's good," Rose said, smugly. Things were looking up! But why was the Doctor looking so upset? Just because Martha there was saving the day and not him?

Distracted from her threat by Rose's interruption, Martha couldn't help but ask. "Who's that?"

Rose grinned at the screen. "My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Oh my God. He found you." Figured, she thought. Universe in danger, and there's Rose Tyler.

In the Vault, the screen split into two windows, and the prisoners could see Jack, holding a shining jewel attached to wires, Sarah Jane to his side, and behind them, Mickey and Jackie. "Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off."

Jenny stared in disbelief as Rose babbled about Jack being alive, and something about her mum. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten that Jack was roaming around the Crucible! Maybe there was hope for them after all! She wasn't sure what to think about the dangerous bluff Martha was playing though - it was really upsetting Dad and Romana. If it worked, though, they could shout about it later, once they were all free.

The Doctor stared at Jack and his wired contraption. "Captain, what are you doing?"

"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe." Jack said, and waggled it a little. "I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up."

"You can't!" The Doctor exclaimed, shocked and feeling another blow to his hearts. So much violence...so many threats...he was so tired of it all. "Where did you get a Warp Star?"

On screen, Sarah Jane answered with sorrow on her face. "From me. We had no choice, Doctor. We saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Impossible." Davros breathed. "That face, after all these years."

"Davros," Sarah Jane replied tightly. Horrible monster - he should have just stayed dead. "It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"

"Oh, this is meant to be." Davros said, smiling in satisfaction. "The circle of Time is closing. You were there, on Skaro, at the very beginning of my creation."

"And I've learnt how to fight since then." Sarah Jane replied from the screen, with the fire and determination that had once mustered an army to fight Sontarans to rescue the Doctor. "You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star, it gets opened."

"I'll do it." Jack confirmed, with the strength that had seen him live through thousands of tortures in hundreds of years. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."

Rose laughed and clapped her hands. "Now that's what I call a ransom!" But the Doctor wasn't smiling...wasn't even looking hopeful. Why not? Between Jack and Martha, they'd won! "Doctor?"

"And the prophecy unfolds." Davros said with venomous satisfaction.

In his corner, Caan's tentacles writhed together. "The Doctor's soul is revealed. See him. See the heart of him."

"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun." Davros smirked, and it was a disgusting thing to see. "But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people, and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

Numb from his inner turmoil, the Doctor murmured. "They're trying to help."

"Oh please," Jenny snapped, despite knowing she was probably going to piss Davros off again. "They're not murderers, they're desperate people trying to protect the universe from an army of monsters."

"And desperate people always react the fiercest," Romana added.

Davros ignored Jenny and Romana in his efforts to humiliate his greatest foe. "Just think. How many have died in your name?"

_Doctor, it still horrifies me that Martha could even think of blowing up her own planet. But the Daleks must be stopped, no matter what the cost. Stop listening to Davros and think! And give one of them the order. What matter if we die, if the universe is saved?_ Romana looked at the Doctor, love and concern in her eyes. _It isn't fair we should die when we've just found each other again. But the universe is bigger than just us and Jenny._

_Romana..._ he trailed off with a mental sigh, face still a mask of blank anguish. _I...I've tried so hard to show my companions that violence isn't the only answer. And yet, somehow, that's what they learnt best from me. Even Sarah Jane...even Rose._

_Dad..._ Jenny paused, not sure he'd appreciate her commenting when he was so anguished about the threats being made. _Violence isn't an answer, it's a question. And this time...for the sake of the universe...the answer has to be yes. But look inside my head while he's busy gloating - see what -I- learned from you. See how many problems I've solved in ten years without violence? YOU taught me that! You aren't what he's saying, do you understand?_

_Oh Jenny,_ he watched ten years of memories of travel and adventures zip over their telepathic link...and most of her triumphs and victories had been won by clever wit even when violence would have been easier. Because she knew he was right to stand against violence, and she wanted to make her dad proud when she found him again. _You're brilliant, and I am so very proud of you. My little girl, all grown up._

Davros finished his gloating. "The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor! I have shown you yourself!"

The Doctor nerved himself up and took a deep breath. "Jack-"

But before he could finish the sentence, Jack and company, and Martha, all vanished from the screen to reappear, weaponless, in the Vault.

"...bugger," he finished, getting a surprised look from all three fellow caged prisoners.

Jack caught Martha as she almost fell. "I've got you, it's all right."

"Don't move, all of you. Stay still." The Doctor really wished he could stop the pendulum swing of emotions from hope to despair, and lightly touched the force-field. Not hard enough to hurt, but just enough to make it light up so everyone could see what the spotlights really were.

"Guard them!" Davros shouted, as Daleks circled in. "On your knees, all of you. Surrender!"

"Do as he says," the Doctor nodded, then glanced at Romana and Jenny, who were both looking distressed. He lightly touched their minds and knew a tiny drop of contentment. At least he wouldn't die alone. And die they all would if the other him didn't figure something out.

Ignoring Rose fussing at her mother, Davros wheeled about to face the Doctor again. "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!"

"Davros, just stop!" Romana shouted, nearly overriding the Doctor's voice.

"You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just stop!" The Doctor stared at Davros, desperate and pleading. Too soon, it was too soon! They were running out of time...oh, he hoped his twin hurried up...

Davros cackled long and loud. "Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!"

 

* * *

 

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor took a last look at the screen, then homed in the TARDIS on the Vault. "Last minute rescue, our specialty. Ready?" He grinned at Donna.

"Not really, but go for it." She replied and smiled just a bit at him. She wasn't happy about the inverter gun-thingy, but it was really the best chance they had.

"Maximum power!" he shouted and slammed a lever home.

 

* * *

 

 

The entirety of the Vault's prisoners looked up from their various means of coping with countdown despair as the sound of very familiar engines echoed through the room. "But that's-" The Doctor stopped himself speaking and let the hope rise in his heart. Of course he should have expected the other him to show up as the clock ticked down! They always pulled something off at the last minute!

"Impossible!" Davros shouted and pounded his flesh hand against his chair controls. "The TARDIS was destroyed!"

Romana and Jenny grinned as the TARDIS materialised and another Doctor appeared in the open door. _Looks like he thought there needed to be a bit of violence too,_ she thought.

_That's not a gun though,_ Romana replied. _It looks like a cobbled-together bio-inverter...oh, clever Doctor!_

_I'm brilliant,_ the Doctor replied, giddy with relief. Then his eyes widened in disbelief as his twin ran toward Davros. What's he doing? "No! Don't!"

His hearts plummeted as Davros zapped his twin and the inverter tumbled from his hand. So close!

Everyone perked up again as, even though the other Doctor was locked in another holding cell, Donna dashed out of the TARDIS to scoop up the gizmo. "Doctor, I've got it! But what do I do?"

Before either Doctor could answer, Davros zapped Donna with more power than he'd used on the other Doctor. She went flying off in the direction of the Vault's console, the inverter fallen back to the floor.

Both Doctors called out. "Donna! Donna, are you all right? Donna, answer me!"

A Dalek destroyed the inverter at Davros' command, then he sneered at the first Doctor he'd caught. "I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic."

"But...Doctor...how come there are two of you?" Rose asked the Doctor she was beside, barely noticing the other. He was a copy, probably spat out by the TARDIS in their hour of need - that failed because he was just a copy.

"Human biological metacrisis," The Doctor replied, annoyed that she didn't get it...and forgetting that she'd never heard of anything like that. "Never mind that. Now we've got no way of stopping the Reality Bomb."

_I'm so sorry, twin...Jenny, Romana,_ the blue-suited Doctor said as he eased into the telepathic circuit. Much better than listening to Davros gloat. I _didn't realise I'd materialised too far away for the field to take effect...I've mucked it all up._

_Bugger,_ Jenny commented with annoyed affection. _I've either got two dads, or a dad and an uncle...and I don't get any time to get to know either of you._

_You don't have a screwdriver on you, do you?_ The Doctor asked his other self. _He's busy gloating...if we could use two in counterpoint to resonate the cells into shorting out, there might be something we could do..._

The Blue-suit Doctor pulled out a sonic screwdriver...then groaned. _Dammit, the blast fried it._

Romana heaved a sigh, then pulled them all mentally closer. _I...I don't know what to say, really. Except I'm glad we're all together, here at the end._

They were startled out of their despairing mental clinch when an alarm sounded, and Donna said, "Closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop. That button there." She grinned and pressed a button on the control panel.

The Doctor in the brown pinstripes stared in disbelief. "Donna, you can't even change a plug!"

"Want to bet on that, Time Boy?" Donna smirked and rolled her head.

"You'll suffer for this!" Davros shouted and raised his cybernetic arm he'd zapped her and the blue-suited Doctor with earlier.

"Nah, don't feel like more pain," She flipped a lever and smirked as his zap backfired. "Bioelectric dampening field with a retrograde field-arc inversion!" Then she rolled her eyes at the order to exterminate her and worked more controls on the panel at high speed. She was loving this, thinking like the Doctor! At last, she knew what all that technobabble he spouted really meant!

As the Daleks shouted about their weapons being nonfunctional, Donna smirked. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix!"

Jack and Martha both startled at that, then looked at Romana. "But I thought you called hiding the Subwave Network a blindfold matrix?" Martha asked.

"A blindfold matrix, by definition, is a matrix that blinds. Keeps them from seeing...and Donna has somehow figured how to keep them from 'seeing' their weapons. Brilliant!" Romana clapped her hands in delight.

"Ta much!" Donna gave a cheery wave to Romana, then rolled her eyes at the Doctor's interruption.

"How did you work that out Donna? You're-"

"Time Lord," his twin interrupted, grinning proudly at Donna. "Part Time Lord."

"Part human, oh yes." Donna grinned at both of them. "That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna."

The brown-suited Doctor's jaw dropped as realisation hit him. "The Doctor Donna. Just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming. The Doctor Donna."

"Yeah, but enough chat. Honestly, your gob never stops does it?" A few more controls and the holding cells vanished. "Holding cells deactivated, and," She paused and there was the boom of very thick doors crashing closed. "Sealed the Vault. Well? You just going to stand there, you skinny boys in suits? Let's get to work!"

She huffed a sigh as the Doctors and Romana joined her at the console, but not because of them. No, it was cos Davros was trying to order them moved away from the controls. "Doesn't that nitwit ever give up?" She asked as she worked. "Ahh, never mind," she added and twisted a dial. "And spin!"

She grinned at Jenny's delighted laughter, then twisted the dial the other way. "Aaand the other way."

Romana raised an eyebrow. "Trip-switch circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator? Oh, brilliant! But honestly, did they run everything through the controls in the Vault?"

The Doctors looked at each other in surprise. "Why did we never think of that?"

"Thanks!" Donna grinned at Romana, then smirked at the two Doctors. "Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos. Romana? Would you have thought of doing that?"

"No...well, not immediately," she confirmed. What she was witnessing was amazing, and had only been theorised before. Human-Time Lord metacrisis...and oh, the Human half of it was brilliant! There were worries though, if she remembered the theory correctly...but they'd see to those when they had time.

"That would be that gut instinct that comes hand in hand with Planet Earth." Donna smiled proudly. "I can think of ideas you overcivilised, overeducated lot couldn't dream of in a million years. Ah, the universe has been waiting for me. Now, let's send that trip switch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you, best temp in Chiswick? Hundred words per minute." And levers were pressed again, and she looked up, eyes shining with delight.

"Ha!" The blue-suited Doctor shouted, delighted that she was finally admitting she was brilliant. Yeah, she had a really big boost with that Time Lord brain - but she was right. None of the three of them would have thought of that - not in such a short amount of time. That was her own brilliance at work!

"All right then, we've got twenty-seven planets to send home," Donna said. "Activate magnetron." The four Time Lords got to work, while everyone else was having a bit of unexpected fun.

Jenny grinned at Jack as they pushed a spinning Dalek down the corridor. "Oh, nice! Look at him ricochet off the walls!"

"Fantastic," Jack replied, grinning. Then he hugged her, delighting in the experience of a hug without threats. He'd get it later from her father, he was sure, but Jenny was a lot of fun to hang around with. And hug.

Too bad she didn't stick around - there she went, off to hug Martha. Ah well, like father like daughter - he never stood still either.

Rose and Sarah Jane bonded over pushing around another Dalek, then they came to join Jenny, who'd been catching up with Martha.

The Doctor shouting about needing more power got Rose's attention, and she glared over at them - she hated not knowing what was going on. Even if she didn't understand it, she wanted to know! "Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?"

Romana rolled her eyes. "Would you understand it if we did?"

"Shush, you, she's a human. Just think simplified explanations," Donna said, then tried to simplify everything for Rose because she didn't think Romana wanted to. "He poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand, and he grew out of that," she said, thumbing at the blue-suited Doctor. "but some of it fed back into me. But it didn't do anything in my head till the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor - I got his mind." She smiled smugly, then waited to see if there were any questions.

"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked?

Rose stared at Donna in shock. "THREE Doctors?" She was thrown for a minute, then realised one was a clone with a half-life, and the other didn't count cos it was just his mind in a female body. The Doctor was still The Doctor. And hers, she'd make that very clear to this Romana when they got out of this. After all, that Caan said the Doctor's Lady...and who else could that be but herself?

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," Jack said with a salacious leer, then yelped as Jenny kicked his ankle. "Ow!"

"That's my dads you're thinking about that way. Eww." She made a face at him, then gave him a puzzled look when he looked surprised.

"...that's why I didn't want to hug her," he murmured. "Because this had to have been echoing back in some way...and I could sense she was technically taken. Don't want to hug Romana for the same reason. She's your dad's...and so's Donna. Bit different way, I'll admit...but she's still his."

"Oh! Well that's a much better reason than 'Don't know'." Jenny admitted. "And...sorry about the ankle." She made another face, this time like she'd bitten a lemon, then murmured. "Besides, it'd actually be a foursome. You can't leave Romana out of that equation."

"Ohh, you're going to be fun to get to know!" He grinned at her, then Davros' whinging about something got his attention. "Whoops. Looks like we missed something."

"Just that Dalek Caan was the one manipulating timelines to converge on Donna." Jenny replied, then shushed him because she could sense something was about to happen. And she wanted to hear why Caan did it all.

"I saw the Daleks," Caan burbled. "What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed no more!"

A hole opened in the roof of the Vault and the Supreme Dalek levitated down.

"Heads up!" Jack shouted and readied his big gun Jenny had admired.

Jenny mouthed 'I told you so,' as the big Red Dalek accused Davros of betraying the Daleks, then rolled her eyes when Davros tried to shift the blame to Caan. Unfortunately, neither she nor Jack anticipated Big Red destroying part of the console, but she grinned when Jack primed his gun.

"Like I said earlier, feel this!" He fired, and held the pulse steady on until the Dalek exploded, then he grinned at Jenny.

"I still like that gun," she said and nudged him with her shoulder.

Over at the console, the Doctor made a face. "Oh, we've lost the magnetron. And there's only one planet left - guess which one? But we can use the TARDIS - Romana! With me!" The two Time Lords ran into the TARDIS, leaving the other Doctor and Donna at the sole console panel left functioning.

"Holding Earth stability. Maintaining atmospheric shell. Donna, when they signal, help me transfer control to the TARDIS."

"Yeah, no problem," she said, and when a light flashed on the console, worked the controls to switch maintaining Earth to the TARDIS.

"The prophecy must complete," Caan said, focusing his one mad eye on the Doctor.

"Don't listen to him," Davros snarled, unable to interfere because faithful Mickey had been guarding him all this time.

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek," Caan continued, ignoring Davros. "And you must make it happen, Doctor."

The Blue-Suited Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at Donna with bleak determination. "He's right. Because with or without a Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped."

"Yeah, but...but we can trap them in a time loop. Or just seal them inside the Medusa Cascade, forever out of synch with the universe." Oh God, why can't I think faster? I need to keep him from having all this on his shoulders!

"We don't have the power for that! They'll be taking back control any second - I have to act now!" He worked furiously at the controls and prayed that Donna, who he could sense moving, wouldn't stop him. "Maximising Dalekanium power feeds!" His heart fell at the touch of her hand...she was going to stop him...but she couldn't!

Donna met his eyes when he looked at her, and let him see the same understanding she'd shown in that escape pod in Vesuvius. She couldn't think of anything else that would stop the Daleks with the limited power and time they had, and she wasn't going to let him shoulder this monstrous burden alone now, anymore than she had then. And then she said one word, but it was all she needed to say. "Together."

"Together." He nodded, then they flipped the switches together. "Blasting them back!"

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor whirled about at the sound of Daleks exploding, then looked back at Romana, eyes huge. "What did he do?"


	4. So long, farewell, good bye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own them, and I don't want to either - I have too much fun writing alternate histories etc. :D
> 
> Author's Note: If the Doctor had a clear head during Journey's End, he'd have remembered that Daleks are a scourge, and he's probably the only one who'd mourn them...in the sick, twisted sort of way that reverse nostalgia over horrible things makes one miss something.
> 
> I'll repeat this offer in Chapter 5 when I finally get it posted, but if anyone has a scene they'd like to see that is not Jenny finding Romana (That's getting it's own story), feel free to ask either in review or PM. And if I feel inspired, I'll add it in as a DVD extra :D
> 
> Love to my reviewers and readers!

 

* * *

 

_Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor whirled about at the sound of Daleks exploding, then looked back at Romana, eyes huge. "What did he do?"_

"What he had to, Doctor." Romana sighed. "What he had to." She adjusted a few controls, then waved a hand at him. "Go get everyone in - I've got everything under control here. And we _will_ be talking about what you've done to your poor TARDIS later!"

He made a face at the threat, then rushed to the door to see his twin, Donna and Jenny herding the rest of his friends toward the TARDIS. "Get in the TARDIS, everyone! All of you, inside! Run!"

Jenny made a last look 'round as her blue-suited dad... uncle... whichever he was, was counting off companions, then ducked inside herself, followed by Donna and... well, she was just going to call them both Dad until they said otherwise. Less confusing that way. Anyway, her blue-suited dad followed her and Donna in, then Jenny sighed as her brown-suited dad tried to convince Davros to come with them.

Well, that was Dad, trying to save everyone. Even the megalomaniac who started all the trouble in the first place. She could hear that mad Caan burbling something about 'one of them may still die', and wondered what he meant by that. Then her brown-suited dad came back in alone, shut the doors against the flames and bounded over to the console near Romana.

As the TARDIS dematerialised away from the exploding Crucible, Sarah Jane looked over at the two Doctors. "What about the Earth? It's still stuck in the wrong part of space!"

"I'm all over it," the brown-suited Doctor grinned at his old friend, then activated the Subwave Network. "Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"

"Loud and clear," came the response, and Jack sighed with relief at the sound of Gwen's voice. Then grinned when she asked. "Is Jack there?"

"Can't get rid of him," was the Doctor's amused reply, then he did a double-take at Gwen's face - she looked incredibly familiar. "Jack? What's her name?"

"Gwen Cooper," Jack replied, with a bit of curiosity, then raised an eyebrow as Rose shoved past Jenny to stand beside the Doctor. That wasn't like Rose...or not the Rose he remembered.

"Gwen Cooper, tell me. Are you from an old Cardiff family?" The Doctor knew they were on the clock, but he'd forget to ask later and it was nagging at him.

"Ye-es," came her slow, confused reply. "All the way back to the eighteen hundreds."

"That explains why you look so familiar. Spatial genetic multiplicity!" He wobbled a bit as Rose shoved her head in to look at Gwen. That was ruder than -he- usually was...what was up with her?

Rose didn't even notice she'd pushed the Doctor aside as she looked at Gwen curiously, then grinned. "Oh yeah. Thought you looked familiar. We met one of your relatives, me and him."

Unlike Rose shoving him, he gently moved her aside, then said to Gwen. "Funny old world, isn't it? Now, Torchwood! I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator and send all the power to me!"

Off-screen came a voice that made Jack weak at the knees - Ianto survived! His voice was wonderful to hear, even though it was simply a confirmation of the Doctor's order.

"Dad? What's that for?" Jenny asked from her position on the railing.

"It's a tow rope, Jenny," He grinned at his daughter, perched on the TARDIS railing like she could have been all along if he'd not been so stupid, then turned to Sarah Jane. "What's your son's name?"

"Luke. He's Luke, and the computer is Mister Smith." Sarah Jane smiled, with just a bit of sheepish to it. She had been awfully silly, but it kept the memories alive in a way.

"Mister Smith? Reeally?" The Doctor gave Sarah Jane the goofy grin he reserved particularly for her, then got back to it. "Calling Luke and Mister Smith! This is the Doctor! Come on, Luke, shake a leg!"

The screen split to display half Torchwood and half gangly teenage boy. Luke looked out of the screen with hope in his eyes. "Is Mum there?"

"Oh, she's fine and dandy," the Doctor grinned, then tugged Sarah Jane over so she could see her son and vice versa.

"Oh Luke!" Sarah Jane clapped both hands to her mouth and her eyes were bright. Her son was still alive!

"Now, Mister Smith," the Doctor said, taking over the screen again, though keeping Sarah Jane close to hand. "I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals," the computer replied

"Oh, blimey," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's going to take a while."

Sarah Jane peeked her head back around into monitor view. "No, no, no. Let me. K-9, out you come!"

Romana was looking over the Doctor's other shoulder, and she smiled fondly as a K-9 beamed into existence beside Luke. "Oh, K-9. Good dog!"

"Affirmative, Mistress." K-9's ear-antennae waved back and forth. "And it is good to see you again, Mistress Romana."

The Doctor had a huge grin on his face seeing K-9 again. "Oh! Oh, oh, good dog!"

"Master," K-9 replied and wagged his tail.

"K-9, give Mister Smith the base code." The Doctor's fingers fidgeted over the console, but didn't touch anything yet. He just had too much excited energy to hold completely still.

"TARDIS base code now being transferred, Master." K-9 extended his snout-sensor to a point off-camera, then continued. "The process is simple."

The Doctor watched his monitor until he received notice that the process was complete. Blimey, but he'd done good work on the latest K-9 - that was quick! "Now then, you lot! Sarah, hold that down. Mickey, you hold that," He pointed out what they needed to do, then turned to another set of friends.

"You know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Romana, you know what to do. It's designed to have six pilots, and I have to do it single handed. Martha, keep that level. But not any more. Jack, there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing-"

He couldn't do anything about the limpet named Rose attached to his arm, but that wasn't important as long as she didn't interfere. But he did try and detach her from his arm. "-no, Jackie. There's nothing for you to do, just stand there. Rose, let go of my arm. Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith, and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Right then. Off we go!"

Along the wall, a bit away from Jackie, the blue-suited Doctor, Donna and Jenny were having a mental conversation, with occasional commentary from the busy Romana and brown-suited Doctor.

_So, what do you think's going to happen to us? Donna asked._

_Hopefully nothing,_ Jenny said. _Dad already went through a whole crisis about blowing up the Daleks earlier, and even he agreed it had to be done. Was even about to tell Jack to do it when Davros had them all beamed to the Vault._

 _Yeah,_ the blue-suited Doctor said. _I would have thought he'd have kittens when we blew up the Crucible, but all he did was order us inside._

 _That's because,_ the brown-suited Doctor interjected. _You had Donna with you, and if her genius mind couldn't come up with another way, then that was the only thing you could do._

 _Only thing 'we' could do, you mean, you barmy Spaceman,_ Donna huffed. _Not like I let him do it alone, is it?_

 _That was very considerate of you, Donna,_ Romana noted as she corrected a bit that was going wrong. _And Doctor? We are going to get this poor TARDIS some -proper- replacement parts as soon as possible. I almost had to hit the console to correct the stabilisers!_

 _Eh, not like I haven't done it before. Get one of him to tell you how we found out that if we didn't make Vesuvius blow, the whole future of the Earth was in jeopardy,_ Donna said, and leant against the blue-suited Doctor. _Helped him then, you'd better believe I helped him shoulder this burden._

 _Romana!_ Both Doctors whinged, then the blue-suited one wrapped his arm around Donna and gave her a fond smile when she reciprocated. _I told you I'd always need you, Donna. Think you might finally start believing either of us when we tell you you're brilliant?_

 _Meh._ Donna shrugged, then smirked up at the blue-suited Doctor. _Might do._

 _Donna!_ Both Doctors again, only this time it was the brown-suited one that continued. _You are brilliant! Even without the Time Lord mind...do I have to count off every single time you noticed something that was the key to everything? Right down to the bees disappearing?_

 _Yeah, well, if you didn't have your head in the clouds all the time, I wouldn't have to rub your nose in the bleedin' obvious, would I?_ Donna glanced at Romana, who was discreetly hitting the console with the heel of her hand. Romana? _Did you ever have to rub his nose in the obvious?_

 _Seems like all the time, looking back on it,_ Romana replied after the stabilisers stabilised again. _Or I had to pick up information from someone who wouldn't deal with his pigheaded arrogance._

 _Ooh! Sounds like story time to me!_ Donna grinned when both Doctors groaned.

Jenny giggled from her seat on the railing. _Oh Dads, that sounds like fun! And think of how much I'll learn!_ She tilted her head and swung her feet. _Speaking of 'Dads'...is that all right if I call you both Dad? Or should I call one of you Uncle? And which one would be which?_

 _Well, we're both the Doctor,_ the blue-suited one started. _But as I'm half-human, I could live with you calling me Uncle. If there's no objection?_

"Rose, go sit down. I can't do what I need to do with you hanging off me." The brown-suited Doctor brushed Rose off his arm again, sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration then got back to work, this time without Rose's interference. _As for what to call each of us, Jenny...I personally wouldn't mind you calling both of us 'Dad', as long as we knew which of us you were referring to at any particular time. Otherwise...I suppose you could call my twin Uncle. He'll make a better one than Brax ever would've._

 _You had to mention Brax,_ the blue-suited Doctor said with a groan, then turned to smile at Jenny. _It's up to you, Jenny, what you'll call us. We're both good with whatever you decide._

 _Well, that brings up another problem,_ Jenny said with a frown. _How can both of you call yourselves 'The Doctor' and not get everyone all confused?_

 _That is a conundrum,_ Romana said, having finally gotten the stabilisers to work properly after three smacks and a good thumping. _It isn't for our sakes as we'll always know which Doctor is which, but perhaps you, being newer, should decide on something different to be called._

 _Yeah, but if he feels like he's 'The Doctor', that'll be really hard for him,_ Donna noted.

 _But it's going to be a problem in the future,_ the blue-suited Doctor agreed. _I'll have to think on it. Plenty of time for that, though._

 _Well anyway, I've decided,_ Jenny said, making all the older ones smile with her happiness at having settled a problem. _You're Dad, Dad, and you're my uncle. Would've been kind of weird having two dads, now I think on it._

 _Another problem we're going to have, and lots sooner, is Rose,_ Donna said. _She's determined to latch onto you like a limpet, Doctor._

 _Yeah...well, I'm not having it,_ the brown-suited Doctor replied. _Not when I've found Romana._

 _That's very sweet of you, Doctor._ Romana smiled at him. _But you'll have to get it through her head that you're in love with me._

 _Been in love with you for centuries,_ he replied with a sappy grin.

 _Ooh,_ Jenny said with a worried look at her blue-suited uncle. _That's another problem - cos you're identical to Dad, and you've got all his memories and feelings – uh oh! Incoming!_ Jenny added when she noticed Rose had left the jumpseat to come toward her uncle.

 _I'm him, yes. But I'm also half-human. I wouldn't fight my twin for Romana's hand just to curse her to live with someone who only has a human life-span._ He watched Rose approach, then raised an eyebrow as she ignored him for Donna.

 _How do you figure that?_ His twin asked as Rose approached Donna. _That's weird. I'd have thought she'd go after you..._

 _I've only got one heart. Half human here, logically that means a shorter lifespan,_ he replied, and turned most of his attention to Rose. _And yeah...shush, let's listen to the reasons_ , he added as Rose pulled Donna a few feet away.

Donna raised an eyebrow at Rose leading her away from the Doctor, but since the girl wasn't being blatantly mean about it or anything, followed along. She just hoped the Time Lord peanut gallery would stay hush. "So, you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," Rose said, condescendingly, as she tried to ooze sympathy. "You and him, it's not gonna end well. He's a clone, only got a half-life. You'll only have ten years or so, if you're lucky."

"Why d'you say that?" Donna asked, mentally shushing the outrage of four Time Lords so she could hear herself think. Noisy buggers...so much for the peanut gallery keeping quiet. "Meta-crisis duplication-"

"Is still cloning," Rose interrupted. "An' we learned, he and I, that clones only have a really short half-life. If you'd really got his mind, you'd remember our trip to New Earth, and how he kissed me to free me from possession. An' you'd remember Chip, and how short a life he had."

 _Donna don't!_ Both Doctors exclaimed, desperate to interrupt a magnificent tirade that would keep them from learning any more of what Rose was up to. _If she thinks being half human means I've got a decade for a lifespan, let her,_ the blue-suit Doctor continued. _It certainly makes our decision easier._

 _Can't I at least remind her that it was Cassandra who kissed you and not you kissing her?_ Donna whinged, then gave Rose the most poisonously sweet smile that the Doctors and Romana had ever seen. "That's really sweet of you to remind me, but could you get to the point of why you're bringing it up?"

"Cos," Rose said with a smirk. "I'm back, so I'll be with the Doctor. An' he and I travel best alone, so you lot will be leaving soon. Just tryin' to be helpful and get you ready for the inevitable. Specially if you're thinking about getting involved with the clone." Rose finished and turned her back on Donna to return to the Doctor's side, swinging her hips.

Donna, who'd had her mouth open to point out that Romana was a Time Lord, and if the Doctor was going to ditch his own daughter, much less the rest of them, for anyone, it'd be her, not a girl who apparently never grew up, closed it with a snap and returned to the blue-suit Doctor's side. _I have never met anyone so full of themselves in my whole life! Not even Nerys!_

 _Source! Talk about delusions of grandeur!_ Jenny sputtered mentally. _She really thinks she's so important that Dad would just drop me off somewhere cos she wanted him to? Much less the woman he loves? Oh, and Romana? I think you'll make a lovely mum, in case you were wondering._

 _That's very sweet of you, Jenny...and I'll try to be a good one,_ Romana said and blessed that mental voices couldn't choke up even if they did convey all the emotions that would cause an audible voice to choke.

 _Well, at least now we know what's going through that stupid little ape-mind of hers,_ the Doctor stood by Donna said. _Ooh, that was a bit of our last self coming through, wasn't it? Blimey, I'm going to have to spend some time figuring out just who I really am before I can plan my future!_

The Doctor at the controls was seething, and only Romana's soothing mental touch allowed him to hide his outrage as Rose sauntered back to his side. _No. No. Absolutely not. This is not happening! She is going straight back to Pete's World, and if I can figure out how to get us there without endangering the TARDIS, I'll destroy that dimensional cannon on top of it!_

 _Easy - get the jump controls off of them, then use them to home in on the cannon,_ Donna and Romana replied with identical mental smirks.

 _Probably be easier on Jackie if we did it that way too_ , Donna continued alone. _Didn't Rose say something about Jackie being pregnant last time you spoke to her?_

 _Yeah,_ the Doctor said, calming down. _Now all we have to do is find a good pick-pocket that Rose won't be suspicious of._

 _Easy!_ Jenny chirped and hopped off the railing as Earth was finally settled back into orbit. _I'll just ask Jack. He's cute, and he likes me._

 _Jenny!_ Both Doctors shouted in fatherly concern.

_Ow. Easy there, that hurt! Besides, Jack knows better than to piss off the Oncoming Storms. And that'll make it bloody difficult to date him later, when he's free._

_Easy there, Spacemen. She's had ten years of growing and learning - she knows how to take care of herself._ Donna wrapped her arm around the Doctor beside her and continued. _And I'll ask Jackie for hers._ She squeezed her arm around the Doctor briefly before wandering over to the woman. The blue-suited Doctor, left alone, approached Mickey for a quiet chat.

 _Meanwhile, looks like it's time to celebrate!_ Romana smiled and hugged the Doctor beside her the moment that human limpet had let go of him.

 _Oh yes!_ The Doctor said and kissed Romana with all the long-suppressed emotion in both his hearts.

And this time they both had to use their respiratory bypass.

 

* * *

 

 

After they'd dropped off Sarah Jane, Jack, Martha, and a surprise Mickey, the four Time Lords and Jenny worked at the controls while Rose tried to hang over the Doctor and Jackie held on to the railing.

"Where're we going?" Rose asked as the silence got a bit much to handle.

The TARDIS landed then, and the blue-suited Doctor ushered Jackie out, followed by Romana who had a fist-full of jump-buttons.

"Hey! How'd she get my jump-button!" Rose exclaimed and stormed out after Romana, to come to a surprised halt at the sight of the room she entered. "The dimensional cannon," she said, horrified. "This is the parallel world!"

"Yep!" Jenny said and pushed past her, carrying a backpack that the Doctor and his twin remembered with fondness. Ace always had so many backpacks full of Nitro-Nine that they hadn't been surprised when the TARDIS had made one show up just for this purpose.

"But you can't!" Rose turned about and shouted at the Doctor and Donna, completely ignoring that her mother wasn't even in sight, the other Doctor and Jenny were climbing around the cannon and Romana was busy attaching the jump-buttons to the computers.

"I spent all that time trying to find you!" Rose kept shouting and stomped her foot. "I'm not going back now!"

"All that time being five years," Romana said from the computers. "Five years of slamming through the walls between universes. They're there for a reason, you stupid little twit. To keep the universes separate. How many universes bled into each other and died because of you?"

"But...but I love you," Rose said, staring at the Doctor, her lip wobbling. This was all going so wrong! Nothing mattered except that she loved him, and was supposed to be with him.

"No, you don't." The Doctor said, frowning. "You love your humanised ideal of me - a man that never existed because I am, and always have been, an alien." He closed his eyes and got a grip on himself, then continued. "Today we saved all of Creation. But if you hadn't been so pigheaded and obsessed, we might not have had to."

Rose stood there, staring, jaw dropped. "What do you mean? I didn't have anything to do with that Caan rescuing Davros!"

"There's no knowing if your slamming through universes caused cracks in the Time Lock that let him slip through," the blue-suited Doctor said as he brushed past her back into the TARDIS.

"But even if that's not your fault," Donna added, fire in her eyes. "There's another thing that is. You killed me and murdered a TARDIS to do it. Or did you think I wouldn't remember that warehouse and that poor gutted TARDIS? Or remember that you dropped me off in the past too far away to safely make myself turn left, but you popped right up exactly where I was dying at so I could give the Doctor your message?" She snorted, then turned away to enter the TARDIS.

"Millions of people died needless deaths today, Rose. Millions, and that's just on Earth." The Doctor stared at her hard, then sighed. "And none of that matters to you, does it? Not to the girl who was willing to destroy two universes for a tryst."

"We're alive," Rose started, then got nudged aside, hard, by Jenny coming back with an empty backpack.

Jenny stopped in the door of the TARDIS to glower at Rose. "You know, at first I had a little bit of sympathy for you. You were trying to find Dad, and so was I. But when you told Donna that, in your idea of the future, none of us would be with him, I lost it all. He's my dad...how could you think he'd willingly abandon me for anything short of death? Were you going to kill us, me and Romana and Donna and my uncle? Were you going to kill us so you could have Dad to yourself?"

"No! I-" But Rose was cut off by Jenny's disbelieving glare and snort, and then the only people left outside the TARDIS were the Doctor, Rose, and Romana.

The Time Lady walked up beside the Doctor and took his hand. "You have no idea what love is, Rose Tyler," Romana said. "I've loved the Doctor, in good times and bad, faults, warts and all, for centuries. But never once did I truly try to change his essential being."

She sighed at the blank incomprehension on Rose's face, then continued in the hope that something would sink in. "But even if I didn't love him - I'm a Time Lord. You, with your selfish desires, would attempt to keep the Doctor, who's been lonely for far too long, away from the last remaining members of his own kind. How can you possibly think of being so cruel to someone you claim to love?" She squeezed the Doctor's hand, kissed his cheek, then slipped into the TARDIS.

"Rose," the Doctor said as Romana left. "You need to learn how to grow up and move on. Mickey did. It'll hurt, and because of how badly you hurt Mickey, not to mention how you treated him these last twelve years, you'll not have him to learn from. But you need to do it, especially the moving on bit. Because if you ever show your face in our universe again, I won't have any choice but to take you to the Shadow Proclamation to stand trial for universal endangerment. And it's even odds whether they'd execute you or imprison you for life if found guilty."

"But...but...you wouldn't let them do that!" Rose said, tears falling and smearing her mascara horribly. He was threatening her? No, he couldn't be! "You're the Doctor! You save people!"

"Didn't you...no, you never listen to anything but what you want to hear," He scowled and turned the Storm on her, making her back up a few feet. "I wouldn't save you, because **_I_** would be the one turning you in! I'd have already done it but for respect for your mother's feelings!" He growled in exasperation, then stepped backward into the TARDIS. "Try to do something with your life that doesn't involve death and destruction, Rose Tyler. Oh, and you'll have five minutes to get out of range before the cannon blows up once we leave." He shut the door then and stalked to the console.

Outside, Rose slammed her hands against the TARDIS doors and shouted. "At least leave me the other Doctor, then! He committed genocide, you need to keep him safe too!"

The blue-suited Doctor flipped on the speaker and said. "Oh, so now me having a half-life doesn't matter? Well forget it! I'd rather take my chances out there than live ten minutes with you!" He flicked the speaker off again and sighed. "Let's get out of here."

The five of them worked the controls and the TARDIS dematerialised to the sound of Rose Tyler screaming.

Her mother came back in with several large men and Pete to find her still screaming, because the TARDIS had left the contents of her old room behind. At least they were neatly packed, Jackie thought, as she manhandled her daughter out of the room that was going to have an explosion soon. Maybe they could get her stuff out before it all went up in flames. Or would it be a better lesson for her to watch the last remnants of the past be destroyed? Either way it worked out, she'd had enough of letting Rose have her own way. Her firstborn would just have to learn, or end up sectioned. Or possibly in prison, the way she was going.

 

* * *

 

 

Once they got the TARDIS back to their own universe, the Doctor let the Old Girl rest in the Vortex a while before the dreaded encounter with Sylvia he'd promised Donna for later. She was right, though, they did have to let that battle-axe see her daughter was all right. And he liked Wilf, and wanted to introduce him to Romana. And Jenny. And ooh, they'd have to explain his twin...yeah, staying in the Vortex a bit was the best idea he'd had in a while...

Romana, smiling at the train of thought babble from her beloved - like father, like daughter - noticed Jenny sitting on the railing again, but slouched down and rather depressed looking. "Jenny? What's wrong?"

Jenny looked up to see four pairs of eyes locked on her and sighed. "It's just...I'm worried. Uncle committed genocide...won't the Shadow Proclamation be after him?"

"Uncle and Donna committed genocide," Donna said and took the new Doctor's hand with a gentle squeeze.

"It was Daleks, and unless the laws have changed?" Romana cast an enquiring glance at her Doctor, who shook his head. "Then as they haven't changed, Daleks are the one exception. There would be an exception in any case, as it's easy to prove that your uncle and Donna saved this universe from a renewed and fresh Dalek scourge. They tend to weigh the greatest number of lives, and since it's impossible even for a Time Lord to count every race in any one universe, much less the number of beings in each race, and every being in every universe still existing was saved...well." She spread her hands in a 'there you have it' gesture.

"I'm not seeing how Daleks are an exception to punishment for genocide," Jenny said, frowning in confusion. "I mean, we just...they just...I mean it's an entire race! And they just got blown up!"

"Technically they aren't all destroyed," Romana said. "Daleks have been and will be scattered throughout all of history. Even being called to the Time War didn't erase their presence in the timelines. It just kept them from being further menaces...stopped their plans. But if we happen to wander into a bit of time before they were called away, it's entirely possible that we'll encounter them again."

The Doctor winced and nodded. "Before you found me again, Donna, I got sidetracked and ran into some. Bloody difficult to foil what they were doing, too."

"Ooh yeah, that looked really painful." Donna murmured, wincing at the memories. "But one of us should properly answer Jenny's question before she gets frustrated," she added with a smile at the somewhat annoyed blonde.

"Oh, right, right," the new Doctor said. "It's because Daleks, throughout all time and space, have been bent on destruction and genocide of all other races themselves. It was deemed by all lawmakers and judgement systems that had ever even heard of them, much less survived contact with them, that Daleks should be eradicated as best as possible, whenever found, to protect all other life in existence. So, no punishment for Donna and I."

"Now whether they're gonna penalise your dad for running off and not being their War-Leader when there wasn't time to gather their armada, that's a different thing," Donna said, with wry regret. Although she ruined it when she added, "Wish we could've seen the Architect's face, though, when we ran off to find where Earth had got off to."

"Yeah," both Doctors said with a small grin. "That would've been a sight to see." Then the original Doctor yelped when Romana swatted his arm.

"Idiot. We're going to have to apologise to the Architect...not to mention prove to her that there literally was not enough time to gather an army to fight the Daleks before the Reality Bomb went off." Romana sighed and rubbed her head. "...at least I know all the laws pertaining to this sort of situation..."

"Sorry, Romana, but she was pompous and demanding. And demeaning to Donna. And you know how I am with people like that," the Doctor hugged her and kissed her temple, then sighed. "...and here we were supposed to be relaxing before facing down Sylvia..."

"Is she really so horrible?" Romana asked, then looked at Donna inquiringly.

"Meh. She's an awful nag, and she's bossy...but he's afraid of her axe she keeps for burglars." Donna grinned and nudged the new Doctor with her elbow, since he was closer.

"Wilf's lots better. Lovely old chap, loves astronomy." The new Doctor started, followed by his originating twin. "Runs a newsstand - that's how I met him first, actually. Was on my own, Christmas Eve just last year and found myself on a spacegoing Titanic replica. Joined a tourist party, and there was Wilf being all informative about why London was a ghost town that year. Think I startled him when the teleport system recalled us..."

"Oh. My. God. You mean that wasn't a fake? That was a real Titanic replica almost crashed into Buckingham Palace?" Donna palmed her face and groaned. "Oh, you must have thought I was so stupid, babbling away when we were trying to get away from Matron Cofelia about the hoax Titanic..."

"Donna, it's all right," the Doctor closer to her pulled her close to him with an arm around her shoulders. "Really it is. And we didn't think you were stupid, did we?" He eyed his twin by Romana, who continued.

"Well, actually, given you'd missed one alien incursion because of a hangover, and another because you were scuba-diving, I figured you'd probably just slept through it or something, 'specially cos you hate Christmas, so I just brushed it off."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Donna snorted and rolled her eyes. Then looked at Romana and Jenny who were just ending an intense private conversation from the looks of it. "What's up with you two?"

"Um...we think we might have seen your granddad, that's all," Jenny said. "Cos we stopped at a newsstand so we could confirm the date, and the old man in it was so nice Romana bought a paper."

"He was a very sweet old man," Romana nodded. "White curly hair, short well-kept beard, comfortable cardigan?"

"Sounds like Granddad, yeah," Donna grinned. "Ooh, that'll be a treat, him meeting you two properly!"

The two Doctors shared a resigned look and a sigh, then ambled to the console. "Might as well get it over with. Come on, you lot. Next stop, Chiswick."

**Author's Note:**

> Ending AN: See what I did back there? I saved Harriet Jones! *hee*


End file.
